Under Buckton the softer flintless Lower Chalk rises into the base of the cliff, which then becomes less nearly vertical. The details of this portion of the Cretaceous series have been carefully worked out by Mr. W. Hill (see Q. J. G. S., Vol. XLIV., pp. 320-366), who shows that the equivalents of the Grey Chalk and Chalk Marl of the southern counties may be recognized in it. Several pink bands occur in it, and it is in some parts fairly well supplied with fossils. Its thickness is about 130 feet. At its base we have the Red Chalk proper, or Hunstanton Limestone (the equivalent of the Upper Gault of the south of England), which may generally be found on the foreshore and at the foot of the broken cliff at Speeton, just where the Chalk escarpment leaves the coast-line. A search in this bed never fails to bring to light Belemnites minimus and Terebratula semiglobosa, with perhaps Avicula gryphoides; and beyond this numerous other fossils will reward the patient collector.

Of the Speeton Clays which come out from under the Chalk escarpment at Speeton, and form for about a mile a low broken undercliff, it is to be hoped that the members will not see too good a section, since this can usually be obtained only during stormy weather, when the beach and the foot of the cliff have been freshly scoured by heavy seas, and the slopes swilled by rain. At other times the hardened mud-streams and slipping drift-cap make a picture of disorder, out of which the casual visitor may well consider it hopeless to bring forth order. But in that case let him turn from the task for satisfaction to the glorious view over sea and land which confronts him. Under favouring circumstances it is quite possible to trace out a definite succession of zones, each containing fossils proper to it and not found elsewhere, and thus were compiled the details of the full section given in my paper on the subject in Q. J. G. S., XLV., pp. 575 to 618.

But if the members cannot see the sequence as there recorded, they should, by searching carefully over the clay-slopes, especially towards the shore-line under "Black Cliff Ridge" and to the westward of it (see map above), be able to collect at least a few of the characteristic fossils of some of the zones, e.g.--Ammonites noricus (Hoplites amblygonius), Bel. jaculum, Bel. lateralis, etc.,

and to satisfy themselves of the fact of the limitation of certain fossils to definite zones. This fact is of the highest importance in the correlation of the beds with those of other countries, as has recently been shown by Prof. A. Pavlow of Moscow, who has been able by means of the material collected in this section to work out the relationship existing between the beds of the same age throughout Northern Europe, and to prove at Speeton itself a most interesting alternation of northern and southern faunas. (Bulletin de la Société Impér. des Naturalistes de Moscou, Nos. 3 and 4. 1891.) I have found it convenient to divide the Speeton Clays broadly into three zones by means of the Belemnites (with some subdivisions based on the Ammonites) as under

(B.) Zone of Bel. brunsvicensis.
(C.) Zone of Bel. jaculum.

(D.) Zone of Bel. lateralis.

Besides these, there are (A) Marls with Bel. minimus overlying the beds B, and forming an upward passage into the Red Chalk ; while at the base of the series below D come, first, a thin band of Coprolite-nodules (E), and then the bituminous Kimeridge shales with Bel. Owenii (F).

This interesting Speeton Series is soon cut out by pre-glacial erosion, and disappears under the drifts. At the base of the glacial deposits on Middle Cliff Ridge (see map), an estuarine shellbed of muddy sand deserves examination. It seems to be of about the same age as the Buried-Cliff-Beds of Sewerby. (See Geol. Mag, dec. II, Vol. VIII., p. 2). Between Speeton and Filey the cliffs are entirely composed of glacial deposits, which include, just above high-water mark in the neighbourhood of Mile Haven, some transported masses of Lower Lias shale with the original bedding still preserved.

If the members ascend the escarpment at Speeton, they will notice a remarkable chain of mounds composed of sand and gravel, fringing the edge of the declivity. Speeton Windmill stands on one of these, and the Beacon on another, while others rest on the very summit of the sea-cliffs between Speeton and Buckton. These mounds belong to the glacial series; and though they are made up in the

main of stratified material, their position is scarcely explicable under any theory of submergence. The only probable supposition seems to me to be that they have been deposited along the edge of the icesheet, chiefly by its surface drainage, when the North Sea in this latitude was choked with a glacier which was thick enough to overtop the escarpment, though not to over-ride it.

NOTE.-Permission to use the clichés of woodcuts from the Quarterly Journal, issued in illustration of these notes, was kindly granted by the Council of the Geological Society.

SOME NOTES ON THE YORKSHIRE COALFIELD AND ITS EASTWARDLY BY PROF. ARNOLD LUPTON, F.G.S., M.I.C.E.

EXTENSION.

(Read November 7th, 1894.)

It is impossible to attempt more than an outline sketch of two or three salient features of the geology of the Yorkshire Coalfield, and any description must be something like a magazine story, "to be continued in our next." It may be completed sometime in the next century when the eastern boundary of the Coalfield has been explored. In this respect the Yorkshire Coalfield differs from some others in this country to which the boundaries are completely traced, for instance, the Irish Coalfields are fully exposed. The boundaries of the Scotch and Northumberland Coalfields are known, except that they dip under the sea. The same remark applies to the Durham Coalfield, except the southern corner, which is covered by newer formations. The great Coalfield of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire has its boundaries well-defined, and the same may be said of the small Coalfield of the Forest of Dean. The Coalfields, however, of Somersetshire, South Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Shropshire, South West Lancashire and Cumberland are each unexplored on one side at least, and the newly-discovered Coalfield at Dover has not yet been seen by the eye of man in any part. It is therefore evident that the next century will provide plenty of work for those who explore our Coalfields, but of all the storehouses of fuel there is none more likely to be vigorously explored than that great Coalfield which stretches from the latitude of Leeds, on the north, to the neighbourhood of Nottingham, on the south.

At a period before the geological maps of Yorkshire were published, the writer had occasion to make a geological examination of this Coalfield, and to prepare plans and sections for the use of the Royal Coal Commission, and in the year 1879 he contributed a paper to this Society on some of the features of this Coalfield. The writer has prepared a plan and sections to illustrate these notes.

Figure I. is a plan of the Coalfield showing the outcrops of three of the best known seams of Coal, also the Millstone Grit below. The outcrops of the Permian, New Red Sandstone, Lias and Oolite are also shown.

Figure II. is a longitudinal section from north to south of the Coalfield, along a line drawn through some of the collieries. The total length of the section is sixty-eight miles.

Transverse sections were also shown, one across the Coalfield from west to east in North Derbyshire, and another from west to east along a line of latitude about two miles south of Leeds.

These two transverse sections, one on the extreme north and the other on the extreme south of the Yorkshire Coalfield agree in showing a continuous dip from west to east, except the eastern end of the northern section, where a slight eastwardly rise has been noted. The question is, is this eastwardly rise merely a local variation or does it mark the beginning of the general eastwardly rise which will be continued till the coals crop out against the lower surface of the Permian formation. Everybody admits that the Coalfield ends somewhere before the coasts of Denmark are reached.

Those who are most sanguine think that the Coalfield extends under the whole of Lincolnshire. Others think the river Trent represents the eastern boundary of the Coalfield.

It may be interesting to consider for a few moments how far the evidence that now exists throws any light upon this problem.

There are three important boreholes. No. 1 is the deep boring for coal at Scarle. No. 2 is the boring near Carlton and Snaith, and No. 3 is the boring near Haxey, between Doncaster and Gainsborough. The Scarle boring reached a depth of 2,030 feet, and passed through 1,425 feet of New Red Sandstone; the strata at the bottom of the borehole were never fully identified. The boring near Scarle, whatever it proved, has not yet led to any further developments, and the details have not been published. The boring near Haxey has reached a depth of nearly 1,100 yards, and it has been publicly stated that a seam of coal supposed to be the Barnsley bed has been found at that great depth.