512 Revieics — Damon's Geology of Weymouth. 



and round Durlston Head to the famous stone-district of Swanar>;e. 

 Here he aids us by inserting in full the detailed section of the 

 Purbeck strata of Durlston Bay, measured many years ago by 

 Mr. H. W. Bristow. Our guide takes us also to the Punfield Beds, 

 and beyond the great Chalk ridge on which Corfe Castle stands, to 

 the Tertiary tracts, and the pipe-clays and leaf-beds developed to 

 the north of Corfe and near Bournemouth. 



Glancing back at some of the new facts presented to our notice, 

 we may especially mention a number of minute mollusca, not 

 previously found in this country, which were obtained by Mr, Damon 

 in the Upper Portland rocks at Portland. The species have been 

 described from similar rocks at Boulogne by MM. de Loriol and 

 Pellat, and they belong to the genera Cerithium, Delphinnla, Nerita, 

 Odostomia, etc. 



Mr. Damon makes some interesting remarks on the great Purbeck 

 Dirt-bed, comparing it with the Tchornozem or " Black Earth " of 

 Central Eussia, which by some authorities is supposed to be the 

 decomposed debris of an ancient forest. Having brought from 

 Eussia samples of this famous earth, which produces some of the 

 richest soil in Eussia, both for corn and grass, Mr. Damon, by 

 experiment, proved that it exceeded in fertility both garden mould, 

 and the old soil of the Purbeck Beds. 



The Quaternary deposits are fully described, and passing on to 

 the times that perhaps are scarcely geological, Mr. Damon draws 

 attention to the most interesting discovery of some underground 

 huts or Dene-holes of beehive-form, that were uncovered in Portland 

 in removing the Purbeck strata ("rubble," "hard slate," etc.), from 

 the merchantable Portland Stone that lies below. That these struc- 

 tures were in part used as ancient granaries appears highly probable. 



We should mention that Mr. Damon extends his account of the 

 strata westwards as far as Bridport Harbour and Eype, a district 

 famed for its fossils, especially those of the " Dorsetshire Cephalopoda- 

 bed." The exact age of this bed is, by-the-bye, a matter of some 

 controversy — perhaps we should say the exact paleeontological 

 equivalent, for its stratigraphical position is clear enough. Strictly 

 speaking, the whole of the Inferior Oolite in the district is a Cepha- 

 lopoda-bed. 



Mr. Etheridge has furnished a detailed section of the Inferior 

 Oolite Limestone and Sands near Bridport Harbour, and although 

 he would correlate the beds rather diiferently than does Professor 

 Buckman, yet probably this divergence of opinion will not affect 

 the enthusiasm of collectors, who may be well content to label their 

 fossils as from the Inferior Oolite, without disturbing their minds 

 about the question of zones and minor subdivisions. To these, the 

 list of the more abundant fossils from the Inferior Oolite of Bridport 

 and Burton Bradstock will doubtless prove most serviceable. There 

 is also a useful list of fossils from the Fuller's Earth of West Cliff, 

 Bridport Harbour. 



While woodcuts of many fossils are given in this book, it may be 

 noted that a new edition of the supplement or atlas to the work was 



