138 Obituary — Searles V. Wood, the Younger. 



with regard to tlie main questions all were agreed, as to there being 

 no evidence in the areas examined by them to support the Murchi- 

 sonian views of a conformable upward succession. Many other 

 facts also of great importance were brought out in these inquiries. 

 The author expressed gratification at the candid manner in which 

 the whole question had been dealt with by the Director-General 

 anrl the Surveyors in their recent report, and at their readiness in 

 acknowledging that, after due examination in the course of surveying 

 and mapping parts of the areas referred to, they had found the 

 '■' evidence altogether overwhelming against the upward succession 

 which Murchisou believed to exist." 



coiai^iEsiE'onsriDiBZsrcE. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE JUEASSIC SYSTEM. 



Sir, — Mr. Blanford states that a line of division drawn between 

 the Cornbrash and the Oxfordian has no general value, " the (litho- 

 logical) change being confined to but a small part of the earth's 

 surface." England, France and Germany may be only a small part 

 of the earth's surface, but I think most English geologists will be 

 satisfied with a classification of the Jurassic rocks that is applicable 

 to these three countries, and a lithological cliange does take place 

 about this horizon in all of them. 



Mr. Blanford proposes to include the Oxford Clay in the Middle 

 Jurassic and to draw the line of separation between this clay and 

 the Coral Rag, but he does not say whether he would include the 

 Argovien or Lower Calcareous Grit in the former or the latter ; he 

 will find that foreign authorities differ, and that either course is 

 unsatisfactory, if the line is to separate divisions of primary rank, 

 the Coral lian as a whole being as closely connected with the Oxford 

 as with the Kimmeridge Clay. 



In conclusion, let me admit that I stand corrected as to the use of 

 the word "stage " ; it should be retained for divisions of secondary 

 rank, and 1 should not have used it in the sense of a primary 

 division. A. J. Jukes-Bkowne. 



Jan. I9lh, 1885. 



SEARLES V. WOOD, THE YOUNGER, F.G.S. 



Born February 4, 1830. Died December 14, 1884. 



Searles Valentine Wood, jun., the son of Mr. S. V. Wood, the 

 well-known palasontologist, was born at Hasketon, in Suffolk, on 

 February 4th, 1830. He was educated first at King's College, 

 London, and afterwards in France. From his boyhood he began to 

 take the liveliest interest in the scientific pursuits of his father. 

 We find him as far back as 1843-5 assisting in the investigations in 

 which Mr. Wood, sen., was then engaged of the Eocene Fresh-water 

 beds of Hordwell Cliff. Indeed he may be said to have been 

 educated upon '^I'ertiary Geology from his youth up. In 1862 he 

 wrote an elaborate paper on "The Form and Distribution of the 



