On the Portland Rocks of England

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Abstract
U nlike the Kimmeridgian and Corallian rocks, the Portland series has been frequently examined in all its localities by competent observers, and there might seem, at first sight, to be little additional or desirable information to obtain. Yet when all the extant materials are put together they seem to serve but slightly towards the history of the deposits in their varying relations to each other and to similar rocks abroad. There is first the masterly work of Fitton, forming the basis of our present knowledge; yet many questions have arisen since its epoch which wait for a reply. The typical sections along the coast have been touched on by several authors—as Buckland and De la Beche*, Bristow†, and Damon‡ and the Portland stone has been well described; but the lower part of the series has been neglected. The district of the Vale of Wardour has attracted little attention, though it has been mapped by the officers of the Geological Survey. Of the important exposures in the neighbourhood of Swindon many descriptions have been given§; but they do not agree with each other, and are all defective. Little addition has been made to our knowledge of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire area, although Prof. Phillips in 1871|| added the names of several and the figures of a few species from the series, which he took no pains to compare with those of foreign authors. The most important event in relation to these rocks was the visit of M. Sæmann to this country in

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