Btj William Long, Esq., M.A. 335 



been drifted beyond the present area of the chalk, for example, at 

 Portisham in Dorsetshire. 



"With the exception of some traces of vegetables (apparently 

 fucoids) no organic remains have been found in these rocks ; hence 

 it is difficult to ascertain to what member of the tertiary series they 

 belonged : but it may be remarked that they have a great resem- 

 blance to some of the sands of the Bagshot sand formation. The 

 finding of a few shells in the Sarsens would go far to give them a 

 respectable "/oc;<ss^«rt(/j" among other rocks. The Sarsen stones 

 have furnished the materials for the construction of the whole of 

 the Druidical temple of Avebury, and the outer circle and the large 

 trilithons of Stonehenge as well as the Cromlech at Clatford, and 

 other similar remains in various parts of England.^ From this cir- 

 cumstance the term "Druid sand- stone" has been applied to them 

 by geologists. It may not be amiss to notice here one other cir- 

 cumstance connected with these stones. From time to time fresh 

 blocks appear above the surface of the earth, and the plough occa- 

 sionally strikes on one hidden in a field, where similar operations 

 had been carried on for years, without any such obstruction pre- 

 senting itself. This has induced the country people to adopt the 

 belief (to which they adhere most pertinaciously), that stones grow. 

 Such appearances, however, are readily accounted for when we 

 remember that the earth surrounding these stones is constantly 

 being reduced in level (especially in sloping fields) by the combined 

 action of the plough and atmospheric influences ; whilst the stones 

 themselves, resting on a solid bed of chalk or gravel, cannot sink 

 lower. 



" The abundance of these remains, particularly in some of the 

 vallios of North Wilts, is very remarkable. Few persons who have 

 not seen them, can form an adequate idea of the extraordinary 

 scene presented to the spectator, who, standing on the brow of one 

 of the hills near Clatford, sees, stretching for miles before him, 

 countless numbers of these gigantic stones, occupying the middle 

 of the valley, and winding like a mighty stream towards tho south. 



' Amongst others tho stones of Woland's Smithy, near tho White Horse, in 

 berksLiif. 



