MIDDLE CHALk—WEST DORSET. 
427 
The cart track which leads up to Hill Barn from near the upper 
pit is cut somewhat into the hill, and the following ascending suc¬ 
cession can be traced, starting from about 5 feet above the level 
of the pit, but the thicknesses given are approximate only : — 
Chalk Bock and Upper Chalk. ^ eet ‘ 
Hard greyish nodular chalk, with Holaster planus and 
Terebratula semiglobosa ------ about 6 
Layer of soft grey marl. 
Smooth blocky chalk, Terebratulina gracilis var. lata ,, 2 
Loose chalk, with hard nodular lumps and a yellowish rocky 
bed in the middle, Spondylus spinosus - - - ,, 
Bedded chalk full of Terebratulina - - - - ,, lj 
Whitish lumpy chalk passing up into greyish nodular chalk 
with Rhynchonella Cuvieri - - - - - ,, 4 
Greyish-white chalk - - - - - - - ,, 1 
Hard nodular chalk with yellow stains - - ■ - - „ 1 
Soft chalk full of Terebratulina with also Terebratula semi¬ 
globosa and small Rhynchonella Cuvieri - - ,, 10 
Soft greyish chalk, enclosing harder lumps - - ,, 5 
u- 
33 
The Terebratulina zone is evidently full of its two most 
characteristic fossils at this locality, and it appears to be only 
about 33 feet thick, but probably the beds seen have slipped some¬ 
what down the slope over the Rh. Cuvieri zone ; of the latter, the 
apparent thickness is more than 35 feet; in all probability there 
is at least 80, and possibly 90, feet of Middle Chalk here. 
The Melbourn Rock is seen in the limekiln at Shatcombe, 2 miles 
south-west of Maiden Newton, where the succession is as follows : — 
feet. 
r Rough nodular chalk <3 
Middle Chalk - Beds covered by talus 4 
l Hard smooth whitish chalk 4 
T u (Belemnite Marl ----- 5 
ower a (Firm greyish blocky chalk 5 
In the outlying tract of chalk, which lies between the valley of 
the Fiume and the head of the Axe Valley north-west of Beaminster, 
Middle Chalk occupies a considerable area, but is in most places 
covered and concealed by the “ Clay with Hints/’ 
The section at the top of the large quarry west of Maiden Newton 
has been given on p. 115. 
In the wood south-west ot Higher Wraxall, and north-west 
of Maiden Newton, there is a quarry about 100 feet above the 
base of the chalk, and consequently at a level where the junction 
of Lower and Middle Chalk should be exposed. The beds seen 
are as follows :— 
Gravelly soil. feet. 
Hard nodular shelly chalk with Inoceramus mytiloides - 5 
Hard chalk, nodular at the top, but passing down into tough 
smooth blocky chalk - - - - - 10 
Greyish-white chalk, rather loose and full of small rounded 
nodules of whiter chalk, base hidden by talus ; seen for about 10 
