springs and rain-water issuing from the base of the gravel over the slippery clay surface.

During the present generation the coast road along the cliffs has had to be moved further inland three times, and there is a tradition that the church at Hordle, which was once in the middle of that parish, is now much nearer the sea (Lyell, "Principles of Geology").

East of Chewton Glen, where the cliffs are from 50 to 100 feet high, there has been a recent landslip, the clay base having slipped down for a distance of 150 yards, and extending across the beach nearly to low water.

Hurst Shingle-bank.-From the termination of the cliffs at the east end of Christchurch bay the shingle extends across the channel of the Solent for 1 miles in a high bank, known as the Hurst Castle shingle-bank. At the end, the bank curves round in a hook form, on which the castle now stands, and the lighthouse. The top of the bank at the commencement is about 3 yards wide and 12 feet above low water; at the eastern extremity it increases to 100 yards. The bank rests on a bed of clay. The shingle consists principally of flints of the same character as those in the cliffs, the pebbles varying in size from inch to 3 inches, the average being 1 inch. The sea face of the bank slopes at an angle of 1 in 11, and the beach at its foot, which is a mixture of sand and shingle 20 to 30 yards wide, has a slope of 1 in 7.

This shingle-bank extends below low water across the Solent Channel nearly to the Needles at the west end of the Isle of Wight, a distance of 3 miles, forming a shoal on which there is only from to fathom at low water, and leaving a deep narrow channel about the third of a mile wide and from 25 to 50 feet deep, through which the tide runs with great velocity, the rate at spring tides being 5 knots. The bank, on its southern side, forms a submarine cliff from 20 to 70 feet in height, the side being very steep and dropping suddenly from the top to a depth of several fathoms.

During a great storm in 1824, this bank of shingle was moved bodily 40 yards in a north-easterly direction, and some piles which served to mark the boundary of two manors, were found after the storm on the opposite side of it. Many acres of land were covered with shingle washed from the bank. The bank was soon restored in its old position by pebbles drifted from the west (Lyell," Principles of Geology").

This bank and shoal are no doubt the remains of an ancient accumulation of shingle which had collected along the beach behind the headland at the Needles when the Isle of Wight was connected with the mainland.

Although subject to occasional changes during heavy storms and oscillations of the submarine face due to the flood and ebb tides, so far as can be ascertained from old maps, the bank has retained the same general outline and position for centuries, the castle having been built in the reign of Henry VIII.1

It affords a remarkable example of the permanence of banks of such mobile materials as sand and shingle, when the conditions attaching to the contending forces of tides and winds remain unaltered from any natural or artificial changes in the coast-line.

There is no drift of shingle eastward beyond Hurst Bank. It slopes at the back at an angle of about 1 in 21, and dies out in the salt marshes and mudlands which have grown out from the mainland for a distance of three-quarters of a mile.

The Solent. From Hurst Point eastward to some distance beyond the outfall of the Lymington river, the coast is low, with a foreshore which in the widest part is about a mile in width, diminishing to a quarter of a mile at the eastern end. The rise of spring tides in the Solent at this part is only 7 feet.

The outfall of the Beaulieu river has been diverted from a straight course for 2 miles by the easterly drift of material.

On the west side of Southampton Water, at the point where Calshot Castle stands, is a large spit of shingle a mile in length, which extends out from the mainland across the entrance channel, curving round at the outer end into a natural horn, and forming a protection to a tidal sheet of water called Ower Lake. The castle, built at the end of this spit in the reign of Henry VIII., shows the permanence of this bank. On the eastern side the Bramble Bank, consisting of sand and gravel dry at low water, extends out from the shore 3 miles, entirely overlapping the entrance to Southampton Water on the east side, leaving a narrow channel between it and the Calshot spit, in which there is a depth of 5 fathoms.

The coast continues low up to and beyond Portsmouth. The entrance to the harbour at Spithead is through a trumpetmouthed channel, at the western extremity of which, at Gilkicker Point, is a bank of calcareous sand and gravel.

Redman, "Changes South-East Coast." Min. Proc. Inst. C.E., vol. xi., 1851.

In front of Southsea there is a low gravelly beach steep to the water, and the shore has been protected by groynes.

At the approach to Langston Harbour two spits of gravel have formed, which extend out from the shore for a mile, and through which is the entrance. The one on the west side curves round at the outer end in an easterly direction, leaving only a very narrow channel, from which to the other spit is a bar with only a foot on it at low water.

Chichester Harbour.-A shingle beach extends from Hayling to the entrance to Chichester Harbour, where, on the east side, is a spit of shingle extending out seawards for three-quarters of a mile, and behind it a large bank known as the East Pole Sand.

The cliffs east of Chichester Harbour consist of clay, and are low, only rising 4 to 12 feet above high water. The beach, which is about 200 yards wide, is covered with sand and shingle, which lies at the foot of the cliffs for a width of 15 to 20 yards, the top of the bank not being covered at H.W.S.T. The largest pebbles are about 9 inches in diameter.

The cliffs are subject to erosion, and the sea is gradually encroaching on the land, the waste being estimated at the rate of 6 to 8 feet a year

To the west of Selsey there is some land which lies below the level of high water, and is protected from the sea by a bank of shingle. The sea is gradually driving this bank backwards and encroaching on the land (British Association Report, 1895).

Beyond this the sea has for years past been gradually encroaching on the land along the coast, causing considerable destruction of property. Fields of from 40 to 50 acres have disappeared, while houses and buildings have had to be abandoned. The coastguard station at Cockbush had to be deserted several years ago, the foundations of the old buildings being now covered by the tide. As the tide advances, the earthen banks which protect the land are moved further inland.

Some attempt was made many years ago to protect the land by the erection of timber groynes, but, owing to their light construction, and neglect of repair and attention, they fell into ruin, and have been destroyed by the sea.

The Isle of Wight. The connection of this island with the mainland in former ages has already been dealt with.

The coast presents a great variety of strata, including the high white chalk cliffs for which the south-western part of the

island is noted; the coloured sands of Alum Bay, used for glassmaking; the pottery clays on the western side; the greensand and gault of the undercliff; the septaria on the north, dredged up off the coast for cement-making; and the low flat alluvial shores of the north-west.

The set of the flood tide along the shore is from west to east, and the drift of the material is in the same direction. Shingle is collected in all the bays, but is absent where the line of coast is not indented. The shingle in these bays varies in character, and is generally composed of material derived from the cliffs bordering them.

At the extreme west end of the island the shore runs out in the form of a narrow peninsula bounded by high white chalk cliffs containing flint, terminating in three pinnacles rising perpendicularly from the sea and known as the Needles.

The western shore is indented by Colwell, Totland, and Alum bays. Of these the best known, owing to the varied colour of the sand on the cliffs, is Alum Bay. The material of which this cliff, which attains a height of over 600 feet, is composed consists of sand with bands of pipeclay, capped with gravel belonging to the Bagshot series. The colour of the sand is red, yellow, and brown. The face of this cliff is continually falling, due to the percolation of land-water. The sand was at one time largely exported for glass-making.

The beach is covered almost entirely with rounded black flints derived from the chalk cliffs on the south side of the bay, varying in size from inch to 3 inches in diameter, which is piled up against the cliff in the bight of the bay to the level of H.W.S.T., below which is sand to low water. At the east end are collected a few pebbles derived from the sand cliff. The southern arm of the bay to the Needles is bordered by a high chalk cliff with flints. The tide washes to the foot of this cliff, and there is no beach along it. There are frequent falls of chalk.

In Totland Bay the cliff consists of brick-earth, and the shingle of the beach, of a brown colour, is derived from the gravel beds which cap it.

Between the Needles and Freshwater Bay, a distance of 3 miles, the cliff, which rises to a height of 480 feet, consists of chalk with flints. The sea reaches to the foot, and there is no beach.

Freshwater Bay lies in a dip in the cliffs. A considerable

amount of shingle has collected on the beach in a bank 10 to 12 yards wide, the pebbles being principally derived from the flints in the chalk cliffs, with about 10 per cent. of gravel derived from the beds, 6 to 8 feet in thickness, which cap the cliffs on the east side. The size of the pebbles varies from inch to 2 and 3 inches in diameter. Below the shingle, is coarse sand to low water.

The adjoining land has been protected by a concrete seawall, a considerable part of which was destroyed by the waves cutting out the beach during a heavy gale in February, 1899. Since the destruction of the wall there has been a considerable fall of the cliff on the eastern horn of the bay, and the road, which at one time ran along the top of the down, has been washed

away.

The coast-line from here to St. Catherine's Point, a distance of 18 miles, is indented by several bays, the cliffs consisting almost the whole way of greensand and gravel, the height varying from 80 to 160 feet. There are also beds of sandstone containing chert known as firestone, or Malm rock. sandstone beds extend from Compton Bay to Sandown Bay. This stone has been used largely in the island for the construction of churches and other buildings.

These

For the first mile the cliffs are of chalk, and there is no beach until Compton Bay is reached. This bay is bordered by cliffs of greensand and gault of the Wealden series, with narrow bands of sandstone, and capped with gravel towards the eastern end. The gault contains spangles of mica and crystals of selenite. These cliffs are wasting, the greensand slipping over the gault. Their general character, and the gravel on the top, clearly indicates that at one time they were a continuation of those on the coast of Dorsetshire.

The beach in the bay is covered with shingle and sand, that at the western end being composed of flints derived from the chalk cliffs, varying from inch to 3 inches in diameter. As the distance from the chalk cliffs increases the shingle changes to reddish-brown pebbles, derived from the gravel which caps the cliffs, with occasional red flints, chalcedony, jasper, fragments of Purbeck marble, and pieces of sandstone indurated by iron and known as "iron sand." The shingle varies in size from inch to 6 inches in diameter, and the pebbles, which are not much worn or rounded, are heaped up into a bank about 12 yards wide at the east end, and are prevented drifting beyond the horn of the