552 REPORT— 1898. 



'Erratic Blocks of the British Isles. — Report of the Committee, consisting 

 of Professor E. Hull (Chairman), Professor T. G. Bonney, 

 Professor W. J. Sollas, Mr. C. E. De Eance, Mr. E. H. Tiddeman, 

 Eev. S. N. Harrison, Mr. J. Horne, the late Mr. Dugald Bell, 

 Mr. P. M. Burton, Mr. J. Lomas, and Mr, P. P. Kendall 

 {Secretary), appointed to investigate the Erratic Bloclcs of the British 

 Isles, and to talce nwasures for their p)reservation. (Dratvn up by 

 the Secretary.) 



The Committee has to deplore the loss of a valued colleague, Mr. Dugald 

 Bell, whose death has deprived British geology of a most careful, conscien- 

 tious, and industrious worker. 



The records obtained by the Committee during the past year have 

 been drawn from a smaller area than usual, and the number of individual 

 boulders specifically reported is not large. 



The Sub-Committee, working at the instance of the Belfast Natural- 

 ists' Field Club, has deferred its report pending the completion of certain 

 definite pieces of investigation. The Committee organised in County 

 Durham has not yet presented a report, though observations of considerable 

 interest have been made during the preliminary examination of portions 

 of the district covered by it, notably the discovery of several fine striated 

 rock-surfaces. 



The Lincolnshire Boulder Committee has presented reports for the 

 years 1896-7 and 1897-8, and the Yorkshire Boulder Committee has, as 

 usual, furnished a valuable and significant set of records. 



Some facts of great importance have been brought to light, which are 

 particularised in the sequel. The discovery of two large glaciated boulders 

 of chalk near Scarborough is of interest, as that point is fully 20 miles to 

 the northward of the chalk cliffs of the Yorkshire coast. 



Attention was directed last year to the remarkable fact that the 

 Belemnitellm collected from the drift of Holderness belonged without 

 exception to the species B. lanceolata, which is unknown as a constituent 

 of the fauna of the Yorkshire chalk, which contains instead B. qivadrata. 

 This conclusion is fully sustained by the work of the past year, and 

 emphasises the well-known fact that black flints, which are unknown in 

 the local chalk, are found plentifully in the glacial deposits of the 

 Yorkshire coast. One such flint, containing a cast of Echinocorys, is 

 reported from an inland station. Market Weighton. 



Further valuable work has been done upon the distribution of boulders 

 of Shap granite, and their sporadic grouping receives a fresh illustration 

 from the Scarborough coast. 



Further light is thrown upon the source of the in many ways anoma- 

 lous patch of boulder-clay at Balby by the discovery in it of three 

 specimens of Eskdale granite. 



Our knowledge of the distribution of erratics of Scandinavian origin 

 receives a welcome addition by the observation of a second example of 

 the granite from either Angermanland or Aland (Sweden) at Easington, 

 and by the recognition of a pebble of rhomb-porphyry at Brough. The 

 latter is the first undoubted occurrence of a Scandinavian boulder within 

 the line of the Chalk Wolds. 



