Dec. 21, 1871J 



NATURE 



H5 



THE GEOLOGY OF OXFORD' 



PROFESSOR PHILLIPS'S new work on the Geology 

 of Oxford and of the Thames Valley is a most im- 

 portant contribution to the knowledge of the ancient liis- 



tory of the earth, and supplies a need which happens just 

 at this time to be keenly felt. The Palsozoic rocks had 

 been described and the form s of life which they contain 

 unfolded, in " Siluria." The second, or Mesozoic chapter, 

 is written with remarkable ability in the present work. 



Fig. t.— Megalosauiu';— hind leg. Scnle, one-teiuh of nature. 



This restofalion in outline of the left hind limb of Megalosaunis i.s drawn from specimens, with the exception of the fibula, calcaneum, and 

 ordinary phalangal bones— the claw-bone is known. Dotted lines represent the probable position of the pubic and ischial bones (according to the 

 view of Professor Huxley) ; these being preserved in the British Museum and in the collections of the University of 0.xford. 



The principal bones are marked : — il. = ilium, pub. = pubis, isch. = ischium, fern. = femur, tib, = tibia, fib. = fibula, c. = calcaneum, a. = 

 astragalus. Cuvier supposed the calcaneum to be smaller than here represented. 



The position of O.xford relatively to the formations which 1 and on the other from the basin of the Lower Thames, 

 traverse Britain diagonally from the north-east to the j renders it a convenient centre around which to group 

 south- wt st, equidistant on the one hand from the Malvern ! observations which are primarily local, but which also affect 

 Hills which overlook the low-lying vale of Tewkesbury, j the general question of Mesozoic Geology. In its latter 

 , „ „ , r ri f J J .1. ir 11 r .V Ti, •' -D 1 ^. n,,-ir aspcct the book demands a most careful attention. The 



'" Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. By John Thillips, \ , '^ , r i i j »i, r 11 1 v t 



M.A.. F.R.S., F.G.s. (Oxford Clarendon Press : 1871). I large number of plates and thc carefully prepared lists 



