238 Mr. H. Seeley on the Stratigraphical Position 



out expression of doubt, or even a comment^ the statement by 

 Mr. Rose, that near Lynn the Red Chalk and the Gault are 

 actually incorporated : this is a second opinion. At page 13 is 

 a third opinion. This paragraph may be quoted entire. " Geo- 

 logists/' Mr. Wiltshire says, " generally consider the Red Chalk 

 as really equal to the Gault. Many of the fossils certainly are 

 Gault species, others no doubt belong to the Lower Chalk ; and 

 therefore probably it is better to regard it as an intermediate 

 formation between the Lower Chalk and the Lower Greensand, 

 which comes into being when the Gault and Upper Greensand 

 have almost died out.'* What I understand this passage to say 

 is, that the fossils are those of the Gault and Chalk, and there- 

 fore the deposit must be Gault and Upper Greensand — in other 

 words, that Chalk fossils indicate Upper Greensand. To say the 

 least, this is clearly illogical ; and it would seem that opinions 

 so deduced and so changing as are those just considered, can 

 but little influence scientiflc views. But, while diff'ering from 

 the conclusions drawn, we must feel thankful to the industry 

 which has brought together so much valuable information on 

 this obscure subject. 



If Mr. Rose's statement about the incorporation of the Red 

 Chalk and Gault were really a fact, the discussion would be at 

 an end ; for, although the fossils hitherto noticed are not such 

 as are met with in Gault-clay, it would be impossible to esti- 

 mate how far the fauna of that period would approximate to 

 those of succeeding ages, when the conditions of depth, and 

 mineral character, and the origin of deposited matter were the 

 same in them. So, although it is very possible that deposits of 

 chalk may be found clearly of Gault age, it is also very possible 

 to conceive, from the known relations of life to the sea-bottom, 

 that some of the fossils would be the same as those of the true 

 Chalk formation. But we are relieved from the necessity of 

 adopting this not altogether satisfactory hypothesis by a corre- 

 spondence with which Mr. Rose has favoured me. From this 

 I learn that Mr. Rose first assumes that the Red Chalk repre- 

 sents the Gault, and then, because some thin beds of red clay 

 are interstratified with the blue gault, that the Red Clay repre- 

 sents and is a prolongation of the Red Chalk. Thus, then, the 

 argument for the bed being incorporated with the Gault is re- 

 duced to a supposition. The evidence for considering it Chalk 

 has already been shown to be barely possible; and so we have 

 yet to ask what the bed really is. 



The experience of the opinions considered will sufficiently in- 

 dicate that, if it be possible to answer the question, it will only 

 be by a strict adherence to facts. The geological position and 

 fossils limit it, at Hunstanton, to being Gault, Upper Greensand, 



