WORK ON THE PALAEOZOIC ROCKS PUB- 

 LISHED IN 1894. 



I. THE BRITISH ISLES. 



IN reviewing the progress made in work amongst the palaeo- 

 zoic rocks, one is led to commence with a description 

 of that which has been carried out amongst the rocks of our 

 own country, though at first sight it might appear less 

 necessary to allude to it, than to discuss the less accessible 

 papers of foreign writers ; still much of our own contribu- 

 tion lies partially buried in the transactions of local societies, 

 and we have sufficient material bo bring together in the 

 form of a connected record, concerning one question of 

 importance and interest to all, namely, the distribution 

 of our coal deposits. 



In this article it is proposed to notice such work as was 

 published on the older rocks of our island during the first 

 part of the current year, but the appearance of one paper 

 on "Coal" in the August number of the Journal of the 

 Geological Society requires notice out of its turn, as it will 

 be convenient to consider it along with several other 

 papers on this subject published during the earlier part of 

 the year. 



Before discussing the work of the first half of 1894, I 

 feel that it is necessary to allude to my last article published 

 in "Science Progress," where I speak of the zonal 

 method of working, as though it were a new method. Such 

 is of course not the case. The subdivision of our strata 

 into zones is merely a more detailed application of Smith's 

 principle of strata identified by their included organisms, 

 and no hard and fast line can be drawn between the early 

 work of the pioneers of stratigraphical geology and the 

 detailed work of the latest observers ; indeed one can trace 

 an insensible gradation from the one work to the other, and 

 the later work could never have been done until the earlier 

 was accomplished. Amongst the older rocks, the work of 



