i. BUG KL AND. CONYBEAEE. 5 



about Oxford. In my boyhood many amusing stories attested the 

 untiring energy and independence of thought of this e master work- 

 man' in geology, who frequently rode by the home of the Rev. 

 Benjamin Richardson, of Farley Castle, not unfrequently loaded 

 with and exulting in the spoils of his hammer, and always inquired 

 what 'Strata Smith' was doing. We have from his hand the 

 admirable work entitled Reliquia3 Diluvianse, which gives much 

 information in regard to our local geology, and one of the most 

 precious parts of our Collection of Fossils. A special memoir on 

 the Megalosaurus of Stonesfield may be referred to as one of the 

 many successful efforts of a mind at once sagacious and speculative, 

 bold and cautious, beyond the ordinary standard. 



It is perhaps remarkable that no preparation was made by this 

 acknowledged leader of Geology for a descriptive work such as is 

 now attempted, the more so as a skilful hand and sympathizing 

 mind were always ready to share his labour g . 



The name of William Conybeare will always be associated with 

 that of Buckland in the history of Geology at Oxford. Nearly 

 contemporaries, kindred spirits, and faithful friends, they traversed 

 together many parts of the Oxfordshire district, and some consider- 

 able results of this pleasant work appear in the Geology of England 

 and Wales h , 1829. The second volume of this work, destined to 

 include Silurian and Cambrian discoveries, expected in vain from 

 Dr. Conybeare, no one has dared to add ; nor, even after the ad- 

 mirable publications of Murchison i and Sedgwick k , can the task 

 be thought a light one. My note-book of June 1831 contains a 

 sketch by Dr. Conybeare of the strata in the country north of 

 Oxford, of which a copy is given on p. 6. We were examining, in 

 the Bodleian, Nichols' History and Antiquities of Leicestershire, 

 with reference to the Marlstone, a division of the Lias to which 

 I had called particular attention 1 ; and the sketch referred to 

 shows in what manner he made the application of those obser- 



Mrs. Buckland, both before and after marriage, made admirable drawings of 

 fossils, some of which were engraved in Cuvier's Oss. Foss. 1824. 



h The first edition, by William Phillips, was much improved in the second by the 

 additions of William Conybeare. 



1 Palaeozoic Fossils of the University Museum, Cambridge, &c. 



k Silurian System, Siluria, &c. 1837-1867. 



J Geology of Yorkshire, vol. i. ed. i. 1829. 



