IIOR't'ON — OEOI.OGY OF THE STONESFIELD SLATE. 
258 
plete list of the fossils of these beds has not yet been formed, pro- 
bably because tliere is no complete collection of them in exisiencc. 
Perhaps tlie Oxford Geological Museum contains the finest scries, 
chiefly collected by the late Dr. Buckland, who paid frctjuent visits 
to thi.s village, and with whose memory the formation under review, 
rendered classic by his labours and fame, will ever be associated. 
Let us now proceed to glance at these j^roducts of the slate-pits, 
and it will be seen that they comprise a marvellous variety of 
org.anic remains ; for, besides plants, insects, reptiles, and mammalia, 
indicative of dry land, the Crustacea, shells, and predaceous shark- 
like fishes of the Oolitic ocean are likewise represented in the 
catalogiie. 
We begin with plants, and notice one marine form, a branching 
fucoid, or sea-weed, Halymenites ramulosus. Among the ferns that 
once flourished on that ancient shore, whose dark impressions are 
presented in beautiful relief on the hght grey of the slate, we find 
the dehcate fronds of Sphenopteris (8. cijsteoldes) and Hj^meno- 
phylhtes (H. macrophylla) , together with the broad-leaved tribe 
Tceniopteris, one species of which (T. vittata) is identical with the 
foiTU found in the carbonaceous shale of the Lower Oolite on the 
Yorkshire coast, in the vicinity of Scarborough. The beautiful 
Cycadaceae, of which the Zamia of I^ew Holland gives an existing 
example, are represented by such forms as Pateozamia (P. pectinata, 
P. ta.vlna), Zamites (Z. lanccolatiis), and Pterophyllum (P. coinptum, 
P. minus) . The three last-named species occur likewise in the Scar- 
borough oolite. There is also a singular reed-like leaf, as yet unde- 
scribed, about twelve inches in length by one in breadth, destitute of 
a mid-rib, and with nervures parallel with its edges. The small 
extreme branches of coniferous plants are among the frequent fossils 
of the slate. One kind possesses afiinities with the yew (Taxites), 
but most of them are more allied to the cypress, and have received 
the name of Thuytes (Thmjtes cwpressiformis), with three other 
species. Of the fruits of these coniferge there are several varieties, 
one kind in shajse and size not unlike the berry of the yew, some of 
its more perfect examples still retaining their outer integument, or 
husk. 
Examples of another species are termed by the quai-rymen " plum- 
stones," to which, in truth, they possess a resemblance. There is also 
a fine Zamioid fruit, with the scales attached to the axis (PucJclandia 
squamosa), and others that appear referable to large pine-like trees ; 
these at present receive the merely provisional title of Carpolithes. 
Besides these ferns and coniferous plants, there is likewise a small 
one, whose delicate yet distinct impressions are ap]>arently veiy much 
akin to those of the moss family. Neither the roots nor stems of any 
of these plants have been found at Stonesfield ; from this circumstance, 
and that of their occuring as detached leaves and twigs, we may reason- 
ably infer that the place of their interment was not the spot on which 
they grew, but that they were drifted from some shore probably 
lying at no gi-eat distance. 
