STONESFIEL.D SI.ATE. 313 
Many references to the strata an;l their fossils will be found in 
the writings of Buckland,* Phillip.vf J. F. Whiteaves,| W. S. 
Horton, Prof. Hnl!,|| and others. 
Of the fossils of the Stonesfield Slate, exceptional interest will 
be found in the remains of Mammalia ; and these were first 
recognized by Cuvier in 1818, from a specimen obtained by W. 
J. Broderip. This at the time was referred to the genus Didel- 
phys.*h So startling was the discovery that a long controversy 
was stirred up on the subject. The geological age of the 
stratum was questioned by Constant Prevosf, and when this was 
settled by Fitton, the zoological affinities of the fossils were 
disputed by Agassiz, De Blainville, and R. E. Grant. De Blain- 
ville indeed proposed the name Amphitherium on account of the 
" ambiguous nature ' of the specimens, but he thought they most 
likely belonged to Saurians ; while in the " Athenaeum " the name 
Botheratiotherium Bucklandi was suggested, by Edward Charles- 
worth, for the supposed Didelphys. Although the true nature of 
the fossils was pointed out by Cuvier, Buckland, and Valen* 
ciennes, yet the matter was not finally set at rest until after 1838, 
when Owen published his observations on the original specimens, 
and on others that had since been obtained.** 
Mammalian remains are indeed exceedingly rare in the Stones- 
field Slate, about one specimen on tne average being obtained in the 
course of ten years. The supposed bones of birds, noted by the 
Rev. J. Dennis,tt are now regarded as belonging to Ornitho- 
saurians. 
Of the more abundant Saurian remains, bones and teeth of 
Megalosaurus are occasionally obtained, and Chelonian scutes are 
also found from time to time. Phillips notes the occurrence of 
Teleosaurus, but observes that the remains are more abundant in 
higher strata of the Great Oolite. He also states that egg-like 
bodies, which may be Reptilian, occur at Stonesfield. J J Examples 
of these have been named Oolithes spharicus, by Mr. Carruthers. 
Fish-remains are abundant, and some of them were known to 
the early geologists at " Bufonitce" or Toad- stones. The occur- 
rence of Ceratodus is most interesting, for the genus now exists 
in the rivers of Queensland; and, as remarked by Mr. Smith 
Woodward, it is " the sole undoubted record of the occurrence of 
the genus in the Jurassic rocks of Europe,"! || although it appeared 
on the scenes in Rhsetic times. 
* Traos. Geol. Soc., ser. 2. vol. i. p. 390. 
t Geol. Oxford, &c., p. 167. 
J Rep. Brit. Assoc. for I860, p. 104. 
Geologist vol. iii. p. 251. 
|| Hull, Ibid., p. 304 ; Geol. Woodstock, p. 18. 
li Buckland, Trans. Trans. Geol. Soc., ser. 2, vol. i. p. 391. 
** Ibid., vol. vi. p. 47 ; Brit. Fossil Mammals and Birds, pp. 30, &c. ; Athenaeum, 
IS'ov. 24, 1838, p. 841. See also E. S. Goodrich, Quart. Journ. Micros. Sci., 
vol. xxxv. p. 407. 
ft Geologist, vol. vi. p. 109 ; see also Bowerbank, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. 
iv. p. 2 ; and Phillips, Geol. Oxford, &c., p. 229. 
IJ Phillips, op. cit., p. 194 ; Carruthers, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvii. 
p. 447. 
J. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Foss. England, tome 2, p. 108. See also H. 
Woodward, Geol. Mag. 1893, p. 247. 
IJII Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xi. p. 291. 
