LOW KU CHALK — St'S SEAL 
69 
It will be seen that the Belemnite beds are here divisible into 
six layers of marl and marly chalk and that the lowest bed passes 
gradually into the whiter part of the Lower Chalk. As bracketed, 
the thickness of the Belemnite beds amounts to about 7 feet, but 
the grey marly portion is not more than 6 feet. 
The best inland exposures of the Lower Chalk in Sussex are those 
of the quarries near Lewes, and considering how many of Dr. Man- 
tell’s fossils were obtained from the Lower and Middle Chalk of 
Lewes and Glynde, it is rather surprising that no description of these 
sections has ever been published. 
With the view of ascertaining what zones were represented near 
Lewes, Mr. Rhodes was sent down to collect from the various quarries 
and especially to note the range of Am. [Schloenb.] varians in the 
Lower Chalk. The following account is drawn up chiefly from 
the notes supplied by Mr. Rhodes : — 
The Chalk Marl with A m. [$c/t. ] varians is exposed in the railway cut¬ 
ting east of Offham, and also on the main line by Hamsey Place Farm. 
Lewes itself lies in a syncline, and the Lower Chalk comes to the 
surface again on the southern side of the hills at Kingston, Souther- 
ham, and Glynde. A large pit to the east of Southerham Farm, 
known as “ Southerham Grey Pit,” shows about 70 feet of the Lower 
Chalk, with a dip to the W.N.W. The lower 20 feet consist of 
alternating beds of hard grey chalk and soft marly chalk, and 
contain Am. [Schloenb.] varians and other fossils; they are succeeded 
by beds of grey chalk with partings of marl, containing Hoi aster 
subglobosus,Am. [ Acanth.]Mantelli , and Am.[Acanth.] Sussexiensis. 
Another large quarry adjoins Glynde Station, and shows lower 
beds, for it is about 80 feet deep, and the lower 60 are in the alter¬ 
nating beds of hard and soft chalk with Am. [Schloenb.] varians , 
Inoceramus latus, Terebratula biplicata, etc., while the upper 20 
feet is more thickly bedded with marly partings, like that at 
Southerham. 
In Mantell’s time (1816 to 1836) there were exposures of the 
Chalk Marl at Hamsey, Stoneham, Middleham, and Ringmer, 
which are all villages or farmsteads to the north and north-east of 
Lewes. From these places Mantell obtained most of his Chalk 
Marl fossils, but no pits are now open at any of them. 
The following is a list of fossils from the Lower Chalk of the 
neighbourhood of Lewes, compiled from the following sources (1) 
Mantell’s own list of “ Chalk Marl Fossils ” in the Trans. Geol. 
Soc., Ser. 2, Yol. III., p. 208, (2) from Dixon’s “Geology of 
Sussex ” (Second edition), (3) the catalogue of Mr. Willett’s collec¬ 
tion in the Brighton Museum, (4) a collection made by Mr. Rhodes 
for the Geological Survey, in 1896. 
In Mantell’s list of “ White Chalk ” fossils there are a few 
which evidently came from the upper and whiter part of the Lower 
Chalk, such as Am. [Haploceras] catinus from Southerham, a species 
