12 
ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE SCILLY ISLES. 
By the Rev. Francis F. Statham, B.A., F.G.S., lucumbent of St. 
Peter's, Walworth. 
[Read before Section C. (Geology) of ihe British Association for the 
Advancement of Science, on Thursday, September 23, 1858.) 
The majority of persons, merely acquainted with the name and position 
of the Scilly Isles, generally associate in tlicir mind with tlie mention 
of this group a cluster of rugged rocks, affording sl^elter and suste- 
nance to a few poor fishermen and i.ilots, and famous for nothing else 
than the frequent shipwrecks and naval disasters of which in times 
past they have been the scene. From their isolated position, and their 
comparative difficulty of access, they have Leen much less Trequently 
visited, and less accurately described, than many other oT the beau- 
tiful islets which surround our favoured shores ; hence much mis- 
apprehension prevails both as to their extent and iheir capabilities, 
while very little indeed, of a scientific cliaracter, lias been put on 
record with reference to their varied attractions, z^-ological, botanical, 
or geological.'"' A visit of three weeks, during tlie past summer, 
having enabled me to make a few cursory observations, I have 
imagined that, in the absence of more definite knowledge, they may 
prove interesting, or, at any rate, that they may serve to attract atten- 
tion to the very curious phenomena which these islands present to 
the student of geologic truth. The entire group consists, it is said, 
of 145 rocks, or rocky islets, varjdng in size from the mere solitary 
crag jutting out at low water from the surface of the ocean, to the Isle 
of St. Mary, the largest, the most populous, and the most fertile of the 
-whole, which measures about three miles by two and a half miles, and 
contains an estimated area of about 1,640 acres. The Scilly Islands lie 
* With the exception of an admirable paper read before the Geological Society 
of Coniwall, in Sept., 18.50, by Joseph Came, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., and a few 
brief lines in one of the earUer vohmies of the Transactions of that Society, I am 
not aware of any notices of the geology of these islands wliich have been offered to 
the pubhc. 
