10 INTRODUCTION. 



contained in the History of Whitby and the Vicinity; so, in th^ 

 prosecution of this undertaking, they have been able, in various 

 instances, on repeating their visits to the same spots, to correct 

 inaccuracies in their first observations, and every new journey has 

 supplied them with additional illustrations of the objects of their pui-- 

 suit. It is natural, therefore, to expect, that such as may trace their 

 steps, will detect other errors into which they have fallen, and dis- 

 cover new facts which have escaped their notice ; especially as, in a 

 district so extensive, it is scarcely possible to give the same minute 

 attention to every particular spot. 



The district here delineated, is not distinguished by any of those 

 grand and striking features, which mark the face of nature in some 

 parts of the British Isles. It presents no stupendous mountains of 

 granite, or porphyry, or mica-slate, or any other of the primary 

 rocks ; nor can it boast much of precious gems, or rich metallic ores. 

 Yet its features are by no means uninteresting; and its mineral trea- 

 sures, if not the most brilliant, are far from being despicable. In 

 one kind of mineral riches, viz. organic remains, it may vie with any 

 other portion of the globe, of equal extent. No where have the fossil 

 relics of animals and vegetables been found in greater variety and 

 abundance. Almost every stratum teems with substances formerly 

 endowed with life and motion ; and the fossil conchology of the dis- 

 trict might of it!?€lf occupy a large volume. Hence, not only the 

 mere geologist, but the student of natural history in its animated 

 departments, may here find an employment adapted to his taste; in 

 comparing the recent productions of nature, with those which have 

 been imbedded in the bowels of the earth, and which are fitly re- 

 garded as the medals of nature's history. 



To render this Work more perspicuous, and consequently more 

 useful, it is arranged into Three Parts. The First, which is perhaps 

 the most valuable to the geologist, contains a description of all the 



