HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



217 



WHAT THE PIECE OE PUBBECK MAEBLE HAD TO SAY. 



By J. E. TAYLOR, F.G.S., Etc. 



fHERE are few 

 of my intelligent 

 hearers who are 

 not acquainted 

 with the pecu- 

 liarities of my 

 appearance. In 

 this civilized 

 where old churches 

 I may have formed a 

 portion of the fonts in which 

 they were christened, or the 

 pillars of the Early English 

 doorway by which they will be 

 carried to receive the last 

 sacerdotal rites. As a slab near 

 the altar, some of them may 

 have stood on me whilst they 

 took upon themselves the 

 solemn duties of matrimony, 

 little dreaming of the long lines of generation the 

 obscure stone at their feet could tell them. 



I belong to the upper part of that geological 

 formation termed the " Oolitic," from the peculiar 

 " roe-like " appearance often presented by some of 

 its limestones. This general name is another of 

 those instances of the early nomenclature of 

 geology which are obliged to be retained now from 

 their extended use, although they are found to be 

 no longer specially applicable. Of course I cannot 

 be expected to remember exactly what took place 

 before I was born ; all I can do is to tell you what 

 I have heard, handed clown by oral tradition through 

 the long line of my ancestors. I am the last of the 

 family, and left no descendants. After me came 

 that series of deposits included under the general 

 term " Cretaceous," or Chalk. But, as my hearers 

 would expect, there are palseontological reasons for 

 myself and brethren being grouped together. These 

 are chiefly the family likeness of our included fossils, 

 marine, freshwater, and terrestrial. I heard what 

 my cousin the Piece of Jet had to say, and may here 

 No. 82. 



remark that it is a pity his formation is not con- 

 sidered as one of us, and not treated as if he were 

 simply a distant connection. Many of his fossils are 

 so much like those of our family that, even if they 

 are specifically distinct, a good relationship to us 

 may be made out of them. 



The lowest beds of the great geological system to 

 which I belong go by the modern name of the " In- 

 ferior Oolite." But though these follow in direct 

 order, there was a great interval of time between the 

 succession. This is plainly shown by the fact that 

 out of the hundreds of species of fossil shells 

 peculiar to the upper parts of the Lias, not quite 

 forty species lived long enough to become fossilized 

 in the lower beds of the Oolite ; many of the rest 

 became extinct, whilst others perhaps migrated to 

 areas where the physical conditions better suited 

 them. There was a greater longevity in certain 

 creatures then, just as there is now; for we find 

 several species of bivalves and ammonites existing 

 during the long period of time which elapsed whilst 

 the entire series of beds composing the Oolitic for- 

 mation were being slowly deposited. 



I will just give you the list of the principal of 

 this series, mentioning them first in the order of 

 their antiquity or seniority — a practice no doubt in 

 vogue among yourselves. After the Inferior Oolite 

 comes the Great, or Bath Oolite, and Stonesfield 

 Slate. The Cornbrash and Forest Marbles complete 

 what is termed the "Lower Oolite." Then come 

 the Oxford Clay and Kelloway Rock, both perhaps 

 contemporaneous — the Coral Rag completing the 

 " Middle Oolite." The Kimmeridge Clay, Portland 

 Stone, and Purbeck series form the "Upper Oolite," 

 and bring the entire formation to a conclusion. 

 These deposits stretch across England, in a belt of 

 about thirty miles in width, from Yorkshire to Dor- 

 setshire. They follow each other in tolerably regular 

 order, and as they are relatively composed of shales, 

 sandstones, and hard limestones, and as the entire 

 series has been much exposed to atmospherical and 

 marine wear and tear since they were solidified and 



