PREFACE 



A period of twenty-one years has been taken up in the issue of the parts of 

 this work illustrating British Inferior Oolite Ammonites. Yet the subject is very 

 far from completion ; for many families of these Ammonites have not been touched 

 at all. The richness of the Inferior Oolite Ammonite fauna is almost incredible ; 

 and, though a mass of material has been accumulated, yet it would be vain to 

 suppose that anything like a complete toll of species has been obtained. The few 

 feet in extent of the various quarries can give an imperfect sample of the contents 

 of the miles of fossiliferous rocks by which they are surrounded ; especially when 

 those rocks are so varied, and have suffered so much from pene-contemporaneous 

 denudation. 



How varied are the rocks, may be seen in the fact that twenty-three distinct 

 fossiliferous horizons are embraced in the scope of this Monograph ; while pene- 

 contemporaneous denudation has removed some of these horizons from such large 

 areas that there is hardly a quarry in which they can be explored. Yet so 

 capricious is the erosion that these missing horizons might be found within a few 

 yards of some existing exposures. 



However, if the Inferior Oolite is likely to yield much new material for a long 

 time, it may yet be seen that much has now been recorded. 



How much progress has been made can be ascertained from the following 

 comparison : — In the early part of the nineteenth century the Sowerbys, in their 

 ' Mineral Conchology,' described eighteen Inferior Oolite (and Lias) Ammonites, 

 which would be within the scope of the present work ; but only three of their 

 species, A. concaous, A. striatulus, and A. jugosus belong to the series which have 

 fallen within the purview of the present volume. In 1854 Morris, in his 

 ' Catalogue,' enumerated thirty-three Inferior Oolite species : of those thirteen 

 are within this volume. In 1881 the author, dealing with Dorset-Somerset 

 (excluding Dundry), described forty-one species, of which eleven come within 

 the purview of this portion of the work. In 1883 he added four more species, 

 two of which, coming under this portion, make the number the same as Morris, 

 thirteen. But in 1907 the portion of the fauna of Inferior Oolite Ammonites, 



