of the Hampshire Tertiary District, 
129 
higli oil the chalk hills, of such a depth that, in the absence of 
good sections, they may be mistaken for outliers of eocene tcr- 
tiaries. When the internal structure is laid open in sections 
their true nature is shown ; and it becomes evident that they 
have only sli<?ht remains of the eocene strata beneath them, 
generally filling pipes and hollows in the chalk. This warp- 
drift, or loamy and clayey covering, constitutes the "red land" 
of the farmers of the chalk. That it is an aqueous deposit, com- 
posed of the mixed materials of several strata, and not the 
residuum left by the gradual solution, as some suppose, of the 
calcareous matter of the chalk, by existing atmospheric agencies, 
may be inferred from the alternations which it frequently con- 
tains of materials derived from different quarters. The same 
conclusion may be drawn from the fact that in its lower part it 
frequently contains fragments of chalk, which ought not to have 
escaped solution by the agencies which are supposed to have 
dissolved the surface of the chalk-rock on which it rests. 
In some situations finely comminuted detrital chalk abounds 
so much as to jiroduce white calcareous loams resting upon 
chalk. 
We have thus upon the chalk, within very short distances of 
one another, a greater variety of soils, calcareous and non- 
calcareous, than could possibly have resulted from any probable 
variation in the composition of the rock itself. Tliese soils, 
therefore, could not have been derived wholly from it. 
On level surfaces and gentle slopes this warp-drift is deep, 
and somewhat homogeneous in its composition, forming loams of 
various degrees of tenacity. 
On the summits of many of the tabular hills of the eocene 
tertiaries the gravel is covered by a film of this loam, less than 
a foot deep. On the gravel of the terraces bordering the rivers 
it is several feet in depth, and constitutes, in conjunction with 
the alluvial flats nearer to the streams, fertile oases amidst the 
surrounding desert heaths. Even amidst those wastes, on 
widely- extending level surfaces, in hollows, and in gentle slopes, 
there is a loamy covering, proved to be susceptible of cultivation 
by the state of those portions which have been reclaimed. The 
difference between the Ordnance maps, which have been made 
forty years, and the present state of the ground, proves that cul- 
tivation has been slowly advancing in the interval. 
On steep escarpments this loamy covering is almost wholly 
absent ; and among broken ground it often assumes the form of 
an irregular mixture of flints with loam, sand, and clay, such as 
could not, under any circumstances, have been derived solely 
from the bed on which it rests, but must have required a swish 
of water for its production. 
VOL. XVI. K 
