150 BibJiograpMcal ]%t{ces. 



not assume to be a strictly scientific description of the geological 

 structure of the difterent tracts of country to which it alludes ; but I 

 trust it is correct as far as it goes." It begins with a general petro- 

 graphico-geological introduction, and proceeds with a dilettante 

 account of the districts mentioned in the titlepage, with the suc- 

 cessive geological formations as the basis for a systematic collocation 

 of every thing the author finds cause to put together, in a pleasant 

 talky style, from his note-books and his memory, from his geological 

 text-books and local guide-books, his county-histories and his library 

 in general, but more especially from the late Sir Roderick Murchison's 

 standard work ' Silueia.' 



In fact the ' Records of the Rocks' may be succinctly described as 

 consisting of ' Siluria ' deeply diluted with antiquarian gossip, folk- 

 lore, local botany, and recent geological notings, the prominent per- 

 sonage in that book being replaced by the ego and his friends in this. 

 It is garnished with 82 woodcuts, of which 62 have been taken 

 bodily, descriptions and all, from ' Siluria ' without any special refer- 

 ences, but noticed generally in the preface only as an enrichment for 

 Mr. Symonds's volume. 



Although fuUy appreciating the advantage to the amateur geolo- 

 gist, whether indoor or out, of his having in his guide-book or 

 book of reference such good illustrations as those transferred from 

 ' Siluria ' to this general itinerary and field-book for Mr. Symonds's 

 favourite districts, we must regret that their respective relationships 

 with the original are not carefully acknowledged by proper indica- 

 tions, and that their transference is not in every case unaccompanied 

 with avoidable mistakes. 



Printed in good legible type, and with little pretence of indicating 

 technical words, this book is intended for easy-going amateurs 

 " round the Wrekin," and will serve them for a pleasant book of 

 reference. The geologist, too, will find much readable information 

 here and there thi'oughout its pages, if he cares to winnow it out 

 from among couutry-seats and personal hittory — such as the resume 

 of the Cambrian rocks and fossils at one end, and of the bone-caves 

 at the other, also of the Drift observed in the Woolho^je Yalley 

 (p. lG5),&c. There is, however, quite sufiicient to bear out the 

 author's statement that the book is not strictly scientific. Thus the 

 woodcut at p. 72 and its description are tr:.nsferred from ' Siluria ' 

 without the corrections from the list of errata of that work, and 

 the cut at p. 21.5, -with the old references, instead of new ones to 3Ir, 

 Woodward's perfect monograph ; the descrip> 'o i of the cut at p. 261, 

 modified by an idea taken from the page opposite the cut in ' Siluria,' 

 carries more than the exact truth ; at p. 271 the asterisk left under 

 the cut finds its meaning only in ' Siluria;' at p. 281 the name of 

 fig. 1 has not been corrected, whilst the new name of fig. 2 is indi- 

 cated by an initial only. The supposition that Sequoia is a "fir" 

 (p. 289), and the making Mr.'Lankester hold a fossil fish in two 

 genera at once (p. 184), are weak points ; and the misprints of names 

 of fossils are too frequent, — as " Paloeopyge," "Bo^mannii," " as- 

 permus," " lUoenus," " hemispherica," " Platychisma," " Euglypha 



