86 Eeports and Proceedings. 



It was shown that the lower beds became thinner westward, until, 

 at one part of the Beer Head section, the chalk with flints rested at 

 once on the Upper Greensand .; and the following general conclusions 

 were drawn : — 



That the chalk-marl thins westward, and its bottom part becomes 

 marked by the presence of quartz-grains, showing perhaps signs of 

 a less deep-sea character than usual. 



That the Chalk without flints thins westward (from about 200 feet 

 in the Isle of Wight), until, in Devonshire, it is but 30 feet thick, 

 or even less. 



The consequent nearness of the Chalk with flints to the Greensand 

 helps to explain the deposits of flints on some of the Devonshire 

 hills. 



Discussion. — Mr. Etheridge pointed out the resemblance between the series de- 

 scribed by the author and that of the Chalk of Antrim. He thought it probable that 

 the Cretaceous beds had originally extended over the whole of "Western England. 

 He called attention to the Blackdown-beds, which had been regarded as Upper 

 Greensand, hut certainly were not so, though probably Cretaceous, as well worthy of 

 examination. 



Mr. Hull hoped that some Fellows of the Geological Society would extend their 

 examination of th« Chalk into Ireland, and visit the Antrim district. It was the 

 case there that the Chalk with flints rested immediately on the Upper Greensand, 

 though there was an intermediate band known as the Mulatto-bed, which might 

 possibly represent the Chalk-rock. 



Prof. Morris thought the paper afforded evidence in favour of the Chalk having 

 been deposited in a sinking area, and during the process various alterations in the 

 conditions took place. 



Mr. D. Forbes inquired as to the character of the nodules mentioned, and whether 

 they were siliceous or not. 



Mr. Meyer mentioned that near Branscombe there occurred a band within 8 feet of 

 the Eed Marl, containing fossils apparently the same as those of Blackdown. 



Mr. Whitaker had purposely avoided characterizing the greater part of the Green- 

 sand-beds as either Upper or Lower. He thought the Cherty-beds of the west were 

 stratigraphically higher than those of the Isle of "Wight. The nodules inquired 

 about were not siliceous, though probably containing some silica, but were rather 

 phosphatic. 



EoTAL Geological Society op Ikeland (Jan. 11). — A paper was 

 read by Edward Hull, Esq., E.E.S., Director of the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland, "On the Geological Age of the Ballycastle Coal- 

 field, and its relation to the Carboniferous Eocks of the West of 

 Scotland." 



The object of the paper was to prove that the Coal-field of Bally- 

 castle, County Antrim, was referable to the type of the Lower Coal- 

 field of Scotland, and consequently of the age of the Lower 

 Carboniferous series ; in other words, of the Moimtain Limestone. 



The Carboniferous series of Ballycastle, which had been described 

 in 1829 by Sir E. Griffith, E.E.S.,^ was shown to consist of three 

 divisions in descending order. 



1. The Upper. — Consisting of massive sandstones, shales with 

 beds of coal, black-band and clay-band, ironstones, etc. 

 {Lingula squamiformis). 



^ " Eeport on the Coal Districts of Tyrone and Antrim" to the Eoyal Dublin 

 Society, 1829. 



