LOWER CHALK—H AMPSHIRE. 
59 
parts, their outer part being richer in phosphate. A large specimen 
of one of these hard, solid spongoid bodies was divided into 
sections, which, on being analysed, gave the following results : — 
Exterior - - 
Intermediate 
Interior - - 
f 32'27 —phosphate of lime. 
\ 61 * 71—carbonate of lime. 
[13*87—phosphate of lime. 
\67 ’ 14—carbonate of lime. 
/ 10*26—phosphate of lime. 
[69 * 17 —carbonate of lime. 
proving, as he remarks, that the phosphoric acid was external in 
its origin. 
“ Another abundant supply of phosphate of lime is derived from 
shapeless lumps of various sizes. They are always of a light red¬ 
dish-brown colour ; when first dug they are very soft, and never 
attain a greater hardness than that of soft white chalk. Their 
specific gravity is small compared with the other nodules. . . . 
These lumps are invariably rich ” (in phosphate). 
“ But there is another description of organic remains which are 
found in still greater profusion. They consist of very dark brown 
lumps of every form and size, some are microscopically small, others 
attain the weight of three and four pounds : they are both heavy 
and hard.” They remark that this substance must once have 
existed in a soft plastic state “ since many of them are agglutinised 
to the surfaces of the syphonise, corals, shells, teeth, and wood which 
occur with them. ” 
They give analyses of several samples of these phosphates which 
will be reproduced in a later volume. 
At the present time no phosphates are dug, and there are now 
few places where the bed can be seen, but twenty or thirty years ago 
a good section was exposed in a quarry recorded by Mr. Topley and 
stated to be half a mile north-west of Week Green (Wych House ?). 
This quarry is about a mile south-east of Holybourne, and is now 
(1896) part of a small wood overgrown with trees and shrubs, but 
by clearing the south-east corner Mr. Hill obtained the following 
section : — 
Chalk Marl. 
Chloritic 
Marl, 
Upper 
Greensand. 
ft. in. 
{ Hardisli white marly chalk, passing rapidly 
down to a very glauconitic marl—Am. 
[Schloenbackia] Coupei - 4 0 
Firm, very glauconitic marl, with many 
brown phosphates and large calcareo-sili- 
( ceous lumps, brownish-grey interiorly, but 
with a paler rind, as large as a double fist— 
Avicula gryphasoides and a large Nautilus 1 6 
f Grey-brown silty or sandy marl into which 
\ the glauconitic material above is piped - 1 6 
7 0 
Some three miles farther south a similar section, showing a 
decided increase in the thickness of the .Chloritic Marl occurs at a 
