THE GEOLOGIST. 
JULY, 1859. 
ON THE RED CHALK OF ENGLAND. 
Read before the Geologists' Association, 4tli April, by Rev. Thomas 
Wiltshire, M.A., F.G.S., Etc., President. 
Persons in general take as tlie type or representative of chalk the 
material which mechanics employ for tracing out rough lines and 
figures. It is a substance of a bright white colour, somewhat yield- 
ing to the touch, and capable of being very easily abraded or rubbed 
down. 
But the geologist gives a much wider interpretation to the term, 
not limiting it by these few characteristics ; and, accordingly, he 
includes under the same title many strata which would hardly be 
so grouped together by the uninitiated. 
For instance, there is at the base of the upper portion of the cre- 
taceous system a certain hard, often pebbly, and highly coloured 
band, which, notwithstanding its great departure from the popular 
type, is nevertheless styled in geological language the "Red Chalk." 
This stratum, the subject of the present paper, nowhere forms a mass 
of any great thickness or extent ; perhaps if thirty feet be taken as 
its maximum of thickness, four feet as its minimum, and one hundred 
miles as its utmost extent in length, the truth will be arrived at. 
It may be said, also, to be peculiar to England, for the Scaglia, 
or Red Chalk of the Italians, has little in common with that of our 
country. The two differ widely in appearance, in situation, and in 
fossils. 
The first view of the seam in the north is to be obtained about 
six miles north-west of Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, near the 
village of Speeton, where its structure, dip, and general appearance 
can be remarkably well studied. 
VOL. II. X 
