52 REMINISCENCES OF 



the south and south-west of England, as to the 

 succession of strata occurring on the island. Hence 

 these two districts, the south-west and north-east, 

 needed only competent observers to determine what 

 position the rocks by which he was surrounded 

 held in the vertical section published by the great 

 teacher. 



A second stimulus to active research was fur- 

 nished by the physical conditions of the long coast 

 line, extending from the H umber to the Scottish 

 border. Smith had called attention to the fact that 

 the " Eastern side of the Island is, therefore, best 

 " for the commencement of regular observations on 

 " the organised fossils which are illustrative of its 

 " geology" (" Strata Identified," p. 2). The uppermost 

 of the series of the regularly stratified rocks was the 

 chalk. That fossiliferous beds existed above, and of 

 more recent origin than this cretaceous stratum 

 was expected ; but years were to pass before 

 any attempt was made to classify and determine 

 their exact order and superposition. Hence, as 

 I have just observed, the series, the succession 

 of which had been practically determined by Smith,. 

 began with the chalk of Flamborough Head, 

 the inland outcrop of which was readily traced 

 along the sweeping undulations of the Yorkshire 

 wolds, forming the western boundary of the Vale 

 of York. In Filey Bay there crops out from 

 under the chalk a vast mass of blue clay, the 

 common representative of a series of strata much 



