NATURAL HISTORY. 
113 
sented within the limits of Worcestershire ; but I 
must leave detailed statements of the chemical compo- 
sition of the rocks and soils^ and catalogues of the 
fossils incident to the transition and secondary strata 
to the more minute researches of other members of 
our Committee on Geology and Mineralogy. 
In what I have said it has been my principal object 
to shew how peculiarly incumbent it is upon us^ living 
in the centre of a county peculiarly rich in natural 
productions, to cultivate a knowledge of them, by 
which both useful and pleasurable results will ensue ; 
and I cannot, therefore, close these observations res- 
pecting the importance of our geological proceedings, 
without again adverting to the neighbourhood of 
Dudley. 
To a stranger entering Worcestershire from its 
northern side, the appearance of the county there 
presents a far different aspect from the verdure and 
richness which delight the eye in the vales of the 
Avon and Severn : the numerous iron and glass 
manufactories, the towering chimnies, which elevate 
their summits on every side — 
" Whose Stygian throats breathe darkness all day long." 
and the presence of coal strata, have impressed a 
peculiar character on the district. But the mineralo- 
gist is here repaid for the absence of the beauties of 
the vegetable creation, by a rich abundance of fossil 
remains, many of which have no analogies with any 
of the existing races of beings at present known. 
Some of these productions are very rare, and it will 
61 
