1914-15.] Chalk Boulders from Aberdeen, etc. 
26 S 
XXIV. — Chalk Boulders from Aberdeen and Fragments of Chalk 
from the Sea Floor off the Scottish Coast. By the late 
William Hill, of Hitchin, F.G.S. Communicated hy Professor 
D’Arcy W. Thompson. 
(MS. received June 12, 1915. Read June 28, 1915.) 
Introduction. 
In December 1908 I received from Mr A. Earland a fragment of a rock, 
believed to be chalk, which had been dredged from the bottom of the 
North Sea. Mr Earland also informed me that he believed boulders of a 
similar rock occurred in some profusion near what is known as the 
Kinnaird Deep, off the northern coast of Aberdeenshire. As a result of 
our correspondence a little later. Professor D’Arcy Thompson asked me to 
investigate such boulders as might presumably be chalk, dredged from the 
northern parts of the North Sea during the operations of the s.s. Goldseeker, 
a vessel employed by the North Sea Fisheries Commission, and he has 
kindly permitted me to include a description of the boulders found by the 
Goldseeker in the details of this paper. 
In 1904 Dr A. Gibb, of the University of Aberdeen, in a brief notice to 
the British Association, made known the fact that boulders of chalk 
occurred in what he regarded as a post-glacial clay at Belhelvie, near 
Aberdeen. In response to my inquiries. Dr Gibb was so kind as to send 
me specimens of this chalk. Later in the year I was most kindly invited 
to join the s.s. Goldseeker when she explored the bottom of the Kinnaird 
Deep, and I am indebted to Dr Alexander Bowman and his colleagues, the 
scientific staff of the ship, and also the officers, for their kindliness and 
courtesy to me on that occasion. Though only five small boulders were 
obtained, on landing I took the opportunity of visiting the brickworks at 
Belhelvie myself, accompanied by Dr Bowman, and secured a number of 
specimens of the chalk which, according to the manager, occurred chiefly 
in the upper part of the clay. During the summer several pieces of the 
chalk were picked up by the Goldseeker in various parts of the North Sea, 
but in one haul just north of the Shetlands (61' 31" N., 2' 20" W.) twenty- 
six fragments of chalk of varying size were found. All these boulders and 
fragments of chalk I have examined ; the results I have embodied in 
this paper. 
