242 PORTLAND. [1873. 



being especially kind, and affording every facility for 

 seeing the stone - beds and specimens obtained from 

 them. 



The sojourn at Weymouth would have been delight- 

 ful to every one but for the anxiety of our geologist's 

 visits to Portland Bill. In 1863 he had noted a 

 fragment of the old raised beach there overhanging 

 a sheer precipice, with the wild conflict of waters 

 below. Although never foolhardy, the risk in reach- 

 ing this vestige of beach was so great that, after the 

 first visit, he made a promise never to climb to this 

 perilous point without the help of either the light- 

 house-keeper or a quarryman. The existence of this 

 fragment of beach was important, and no piece of 

 geological evidence was ever more thoroughly sifted. 



J. Prestwich to J. C. Mansel-Pleydell. 



WEYMOUTH, 25th August 1873. 



MY DEAR MR MANSEL-PLEYDELL, Thanks for the names of 

 species. I am glad you enjoyed your excursion here, and shall 

 be glad to join you in another one. I cannot, however, yet fix 

 a day for Swanage, nor am sure yet that I shall have time to 

 spare, as I want to work out Portland fully. I was at the 

 Bill again on Saturday. There are clear indications of the 

 Middle and Upper Purbecks having existed there; while I 

 think it also clear that the movement of elevation which has 

 raised Portland into its present conspicuous position is of late 

 Quaternary date. 1 You will find me here until the 3rd Sep- 

 tember, &c., &c. 



At Lulworth he wished to examine the coast in the 

 direction of the White Nore, and for that purpose 

 engaged a tradesman's cart, the only obtainable vehicle ; 



1 This view of the age of the Weymouth anticline is not generally 

 accepted. See Hudleston, * Proc. Geol. Assoc.,' vol. xi. p. liii. ; and 

 A. Strahan, ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 3 vol. li. p. 549, and ' Geology of the 

 Isle of Purbeck and Weymouth, 3 1898, pp. 200, 229. 



