Revieivs — Davis' and Lees' Geology, etc., of W. Yorkshire. 475 



I. — West Yokkshire. An Account of its Geology, Physical 

 Geogeaphy, Climatology, and Botany. Part I. Geology. By 

 J. W. Davis, F.G.S. Part II. — Physical Geography and 

 Botanical Topography. By J. W. Davis and F. A. Lees. 8vo., 

 pp. 414, with two roaps aud twenty-one plates. (London, 

 L. Eeeve & Co., 1878.) 



THE importance of the county of Yorkshire, the large area it 

 includes, and the number of formations therein represented, 

 have always rendered it an attractive field to the geologist. The 

 very mention of Yorkshire calls to mind the names of William 

 Smith, John Phillips, Buckland, Young, and Bird, and a host of 

 others, to say nothing of the valuable publications of the Govern- 

 ment Geological Survey. 



The first Survey Memoir having any reference whatever to this 

 county was published in 1861, and has been followed by a few 

 others, mostly, however, treating of some limited area, such as a 

 coal-field, and not covering any large extent of country. The 

 process of mapping has nevertheless been slowly going on, and 

 we may hope to be favoured some day with the Survey's opinions 

 on the Ridings ; or, Yorkshire as a whole. 



A door has thus been left open in the mean time for others to 

 supply the growing want felt here, as elsewhere, of a more general- 

 ized treatise than is afibixied by these detached memoirs. Accord- 

 ingly, in 1863, Mr. J. G. Baker published a work on North 

 Yorkshire, and so set an example and furnished a model whereon 

 to found the work, of which the first volume lies before us. 



The portion devoted to geology extends over the first 228 pages, 

 and appropriates to itself all the plates, and one of the maps for 

 its illustration. 



The first thing one notices on opening the book is an excellent 

 and extremely interesting "Bibliography," chronologically arranged, 

 commencing with a paper published by Lister in 1674, and carried 

 down to the end of the year 1876. The introductory chapter, which 

 follows next, is devoted to a sketch of the physical and geological 

 features of the district. To this succeeds a series of chapters on the 

 different geological periods t'O which the various rocks found in it 

 belong, namely, — Post-Tertiary, Triassic, Permian, Carboniferous, 

 Devonian (?), and Silurian. They are taken in ascending order, the 

 Carboniferous, owing to its economic importance, coming in, of 

 course, for the "lion's share" of attention. In each case the author 

 briefly describes the nature and characteristics of the component 

 beds, giving, when occasion warrants it, details of the more im- 

 portant sections. With each series of beds we find a list of its 

 fossil contents, and occasionally a few words as to the probable 

 conditions under which it was deposited. 



The oldest rocks of this area are the Green Slates and Porphyries 

 of Sedgwick, here classed as Lower Silurian, from which it will be 

 seen that the author follows Murchison's classification. We are left 



