Notices of Memoirs — A Book about William Smith. 31 



Upper division of the Carboniferous formation. The locality of 

 these fossils is near Jali, north of Shabpoor, on the southern slope 

 of the Salt-Eange. Although the associated fossils, such as Athyris 

 Boissyi, A. subtilita, Productus costatus, and P. longispinus, indicate 

 a Carboniferous aspect, other fossils, as StropJiolosia Morrisiana and 

 a Terehratula, closely resembling T. elongata, are Permian forms. 

 Dr. Waagen is inclined to place the strata containing these fossils 

 at the limits between the Carboniferous and Permian periods. The 

 occurrence of these three Cephalopodous genera was first observed 

 by Miinster in the St. Cassian Beds of Triassic age. 



II. — A Book about William Smith and the Someksetshire Coal 

 Canal, with an Account of the Origin of Stratigraphical 

 Geology in England. By W. Stephen Mitchell, LL.B., 

 F.L.S., F.G.S. 



ME, MITCHELL announces that he is about to publish by 

 subscription a work on William Smith and his discoveries 

 in Somersetshire, which led to the rise of the science of strati- 

 graphical geology in England. 



The book will form a useful addition to geological literature, as it 

 is designed to bring together into one record all the information 

 that can be obtained of the geological work of the " Father of 

 English Geology." 



The way in which his discoveries along the Somersetshire Coal 

 Canal Valley are illustrated deserves special commendation. 



The reader has laid before him, in a series of consecutive photo- 

 graphic views, the physical features of the valley, and in a series of 

 coloured lithographs the arrangement of the strata. Those not 

 accustomed to field-work can with this coup d'oeil understand the 

 stratigraphical arrangement better than by trudging over the ground 

 itself. The facts are presented so simply that there is no difficulty 

 in understanding them. Doubtless it will be a book of great 

 service to those commencing the study of geology. In these days 

 of cramming for competitive examinations there are many who 

 learn off "tables of strata," and commit to memory "characteristic 

 species," who have very erroneous ideas of what these strings of 

 names really mean. 



Nearly all our classificatory geology is based on the method of 

 William Smith, and a clear understanding of his observations and 

 deductions is the surest way to understand the subsequent modi- 

 fications and to trace the reasons for opinions now held. The work 

 will also prove of interest to the general geological reader, and the 

 illustrations alone have an attraction for those who may not care for 

 the subject-matter. We expect it will be well received in Somerset- 

 shire, for it cannot often happen that there is an opportunity of 

 obtaining so many views at so small a sum (21s.). 



We know that at the price proposed the work can only be issued 

 by securing a large number of subscribers, which we trust the 

 author may succeed in obtaining. 



