1826.] iikich appear on the Yorkshire Coast. 343 



Pickering, and bounded by the chalk downs on one side, and 

 by the hills of ooUtic hmestone on the other, is composed of one 

 great argillaceous deposit, which at the north end of Speeton 

 cliff is seen to rise immediately from under the formation 

 described in the preceding section. The junction on the coast 

 is in some measure obscured by a partial dislocation of the 

 strata ; but the relative position of the chalk and inferior clay 

 has been unequivocally proved by an actual boring in search of 

 coal conducted in the neighbourhood of Staxton, as well as by 

 an examination of several undisturbed sections in the neighbour- 

 hood of Knapton and Settrington. (See the " Geological Survey 

 of the Yorkshire Coast," p. 56 — 60.) From the dip of the oolitic 

 limestone on the north side of the vale, we may infer with perfect 

 confidence that it is inferior to the Pickering clay, though the 

 two formations are not seen in immediate contact on the coast — 

 a conclusion which is confirmed by the arrangement of the seve- 

 ral formations, on the south-east bank of the Derwent, below 

 Malton. If then (as I shall endeavour to show in the next sec- 

 tion) the oohtic limestone of the Pickering hills be identical with 

 the middle oolite, or coral rag, of Mr. Conybeare's series, it 

 follows that the clay of the vale of Pickering must represent one 

 or more of the known formations between the coral rag and the 

 chalk. 



Since the publication of Dr. Fitton's excellent paper in the 

 Annals of Philosophy for November, 1824, there is no longer any 

 doubt or difficulty respecting the true arrangement of the beds 

 on the south coast of our island, between the chalk and the 

 Purbeck limestone. All those who had previously written on 

 the subject had been led into occasional errors by sometimes 

 confounding the Shanklin-sand (lower green-sand or ferrugino- 

 green-sand of Mr. Webster) with the beds of green-sand which 

 have their place between the chalk and the Cambridge gait; and 

 at other times by embodying the Shanklin-sand as one forma- 

 tion with the lower Hastings beds. Now that these errors are 

 corrected, the following arrangement of the deposits between the 

 chalk and the coral-rag oolite may be considered as completely 

 established.* 1. Chalk. 2. Green-sand. 3. Cambridge gait. 



• Since the publication of the paper above-mentioned, some questions have arisea 

 respecting the appropriate names to be given to the several deposits between the chalk 

 and the Purbeck limestone. Though it is quite foreign to my present purpose to 

 involve my name in any part pf the controversy, yet I cannot help expressuig my opi- 

 nion that the term green-sand ought to be retained, and applied e.xcluftivelij to the beds 

 between the gait and the chalk. The term was, I believe, used with this limitation by 

 Mr. Smith ; and it was used consistently in the same sense by IWr. Webster, in his 

 description of the Isle of Wight. A subsequent, and, it now appears, an erroneous 

 application of the same term to designate other beds below the gait, is no reason for aban- 

 doning a name which has been long received and is liiijhly appropriate. Dr. Fitton 

 was unquestionably the first who correctly separated the acposits immediately below tlie 

 gait; I have, therefore, thought myself bound to follow the name (Shanklin-sand) 

 which h e proposes for the highest of them. In a paper on the Isle of Wight (published 



