mountains. The greatest length, from Lizard Point in Cornwall to Berwick-uponTweed, is four hundred miles; and the greatest breadth, from St. David's Head in Pembrokeshire to the east of Essex, is three hundred miles. The area has been variously estimated, at fifty thousand three hundred and eighty-seven, and fifty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty square miles; it has also been estimated at thirtyseven millions seven hundred and eighty-four thousand four hundred acres, of which only about a fourth part is said to be uncultivated.

England is divided into fifty-two counties, forty of which form England proper, while twelve belong to Wales. They may be thus enumerated:

Southern counties.-Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Hampshire, Berkshire, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent.

Midland southern counties.-Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.

Midland northern counties.-Rutlandshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire.

Eastern counties.—Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire.

Counties bordering on Wales.-Monmouth, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire.

Northern counties.-Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, York, Durham, and Northumberland.

Counties in South Wales.-Glamorganshire, Brecknockshire, Caermarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire, and Radnorshire.

Counties in North Wales.-Montgomeryshire, Merionethshire, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Caernarvonshire, and Anglesea.

The capital city is LONDON, which is also the metropolis of the United Kingdom. The counties are subdivided into hundreds, wapentakes, tithings, &c., the whole containing twenty-five cities (inclusive of London) and one hundred and seventy-two boroughs. For ecclesiastical purposes, the country is divided into eleven thousand and seventy-seven parishes; the largest number in any county being four hundred and seventy-five, in Somersetshire, and the smallest thirty-two, in Westmoreland.

Owing to the limited extent and insular position of England, it contains no rivers comparable in magnitude to those of various continental countries. There are, nevertheless, some fine navigable streams, as the Thames, Medway, Humber, and Tyne, on the east side of the island, and the Mersey and Severn on the west side. The Trent, Ouse, Tees, Wear, Dee, Avon, and Derwent, are minor, but not inconsiderable rivers; besides which there are many of inferior importance. England contains no large lakes; but those of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, though of small size, are celebrated for the picturesque scenery by which they are surrounded.

Wales and the west side of England generally are mountainous. The chief ranges of mountains in this district have been classed under three heads: The Devonian range, stretching from Somersetshire through Devon into Cornwall, and terminating with the promontory of the Land's End; the Cambrian range, extending from the Bristol channel through Wales; and the Northern or Cumbrian range, stretching from Derbyshire through Cumberland, and passing into Scotland. None of the individual hills exceed 3,000 feet in height, except a few in Wales; the highest being Snowdon, in Caernarvonshire (3,571 feet). In the central and eastern parts of England (south of Yorkshire) there are a few ill-defined ranges of swelling eminences, but none which reach the altitude of 1,000 feet. Besides Snowdon, the principal eminences in England are David (3,427 feet) and Llewellen (3,469), both in Wales; Skafell (3,166), Skiddaw (3,022), and Saddleback (2,787), in Cumberland; and Helvellyn (3,055), in Westmoreland. The loftiest points in the Devonian range are not more than from 1,000 to 1,200 feet in height.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.-SOIL.-CLIMATE.

The surface of England includes specimens of the whole extent of the series of rocks, from the primary, which are found in the ranges of mountains on the west, to the lowest of the tertiary, which compose several districts in the southeast; strata intermediate to these divisions being found in succession, in proceeding from the

west and north toward the east and south. The cut on the next page exhibits a real section of a part of England, which will at once convey, far more intelligibly than any verbal description, a very correct notion of the manner in which the strata now present themselves, when we penetrate the crust of the earth, or view them in those precipices on the seashore, or in mountainous districts, where natural sections are exposed.

The reader will readily observe that the four parts belong to one continuous line, which has been broken, in order to adapt it to the form of our page, but the index letters show where they unite: A joins to B, C to D, and E to F. It is taken from the excellent work of Coneybeare and Phillips on the geology of England and Wales. It must not be supposed that any such section as that represented here is to be seen: it is constructed by putting together an extensive series of exact observations and measurements at detached points along the line, made, however, with such care, that if the land were actually cut down, it is very unlikely that any of the great features would be found to be erroneous. Suppose then that a line be drawn from the Land's End to Bendley hill, on the east coast, near Harwich, not absolutely straight, but passing over all the great features of the country that lie between the two points, at a short distance on either side of an imaginary central line, and that a vertical section were made to a depth in some place as far below the level of the sea as have been penetrated in the deepest mines, the precipice thus exposed would present such an arrangement of the strata as is exhibited in the diagram. It is necessary, however, to state that neither the horizontal distances, nor the vertical elevations, can be given in such a diagram in their true proportions. To do so, the paper must have been many yards long and several feet in height. The order of position, and the succession of the strata as they lie over each other, are, however, truly given; and nothing would be gained for the illustration of the facts the section is intended to represent, by increasing either the length or height. The horizontal line represents the level of the sea. We shall now travel along the line of section, beginning our journey at the Land's End, in Cornwall. We shall thus, as we move eastward, meet the different groups of strata in the order of succession we have already described, and shall find the tertiary rocks on the shores of the German ocean.

Fig. A is that portion of the section which extends from the Land's End to the western slope of Dartmoor forest, north of Tavistock, crossing Mount's bay to Marazion, Redruth, Truro, and north of Grampound and Lostwithiel. The principal rock is primary slate, a, which is in highly-inclined strata, and is traversed by numerous metallic veins and great veins or dykes of granite and other unstratified rocks, b and c, the granite also forming great mountain masses that rise in some instances to the height of 1,368 feet above the sea, and in many places the great masses of granite are seen to send up shoots in numerous and frequently slender ramifications into the superincumbent slate.

Fig. B C contains that part of the section which lies between a point some miles north of Tavistock and the summit of the Mendip hills, in Somersetshire, passing near Tiverton, Milverton, Nether Stowey, and Cheddar. On the left, or western part, we find a continuation of the slaty rocks, a, traversed by veins of whinstone, c, and then we come upon a mass of granite, b, forming the lofty mountain group of Dartmoor forest. This is flanked on the east by the same slate that occurs on the west, and contains veins of whinstone, c, and subordinate beds of limestone, d. The slate continues without interruption for many miles, as far east as the Quantock hills, near Nether Stowey, where it is seen for the last time on this line of section, being succeeded by the secondary rocks. A great part of the slate belongs to that lowest group of the secondary rocks called transition, in which the rock Grauwacke prevails, from which the group has been named. On each side of the Quantock hills are deposites of rounded pebbles of grauwacke and limestone cemented together, e a. To the slate, a, succeeds the old red-sandstone group, f, followed by the mountain-limestone group, g. The strata of these rocks, soon after their deposition, must have been violently acted upon, for they are thrown up in such a manner as to form a trough or basin, as it is called in geological language; and in this trough there are found the red-marl group, i, and the lowest member of the oolite group, the lias limestone, 7. Here we miss a member of the series which should have come between the mountain limestone and the red marl, viz., the coal group; this is a blank of very frequent occurrence, but we shall find it in its right place on the other side of the Mendip

Section of the Stratified and Unstratified Rocks, from the Land's End, in Cornwall, to the Coast of Suffolk.

hills. These are cut through on the right of the figure, and are seen to be composed of old red sandstone in the centre, covered on their sides by mountain limestone.

Fig. D E represents that part of the section which lies between the Mendip hills and Shotover hill, near Oxford. On the west we see the old red-sandstone group in the centre of the Mendip ridge, and that it is succeeded by a very instructive section of the great coal-field of Somersetshire. Here, as on the west side of the Mendip hills, the old red-sandstone and mountain-limestone groups have been acted upon by such a force from below, that they have been thrown up in opposite directions, and have formed a trough. As the coal measures, h, partake of the curvature, it is evident that the disturbance took place subsequently to their deposition; but it must have been prior to that of the next group, for the red-marl beds, i, are deposited in unconformable stratification upon the turned-up ends of the strata of the coal group. The red-marl group is covered by the portions of the lowest bed of the oolite group, k, indicating some powerful action at the surface, which has caused the removal of the connecting portions of the oolite beds, leaving insulated masses on the summits of high hills. This last occurrence of a mass of a horizontal stratum capping a lofty hill is very frequent, for the surface of the earth exhibits many proofs of its having been acted upon by water in motion, which has scooped out valleys and washed away vast tracts of solid earth. But such mountain caps have been also sometimes produced by the elevation of the mountain, a portion of rock being carried up to a great elevation, which had been a part of an extensively continuous stratum at a lower level. This deposite of the coal group is succeeded, as we proceed eastward, by the red-marl group, resting in unconformable stratification on the ends of the old red sandstone, two intermediate groups being thus wanting, and this is followed for many miles by successive members of the oolite group, 7, inclined at a low angle.

Fig. F. The oolite group continues from Shotover hill to the neighborhood of Aylesbury, where it is succeeded by the sands, clays, and marls, which form the inferior members of the chalk group, m. Near Tring, the chalk with flints emerges, forming the lofty hill of Ivinghoe, which is 904 feet above the level of the sea, and it continues uninterruptedly to Dunmow, in Essex. Here the secondary rocks terminate, and the chalk is covered by very thick beds of clay, n, which form the lowest members of the tertiary strata, and, continuing on to the sea, appear in the cliffs of the coasts of Essex and Suffolk.

All the solid strata most abundant in animal remains are either limestones or contain a large proportion of lime in their composition. Many thick beds of clay also abound in them; but in that case limestone in some form or other is generally associated with the clay. From this it has been inferred, and not without a strong semblance of probability, that animals have mainly contributed to the formation of many limestone strata, in the same way as we see them now at work forming vast limestone rocks in the coral reefs of the Pacific ocean. A reef of this sort extends for three hundred and fifty miles along the east coast of New Holland, and between that country and New Guinea the coral formations have been found to extend, with very short intervals, throughout a distance of seven hundred miles. Of all the forms of organized bodies which are found in a fossil state, from the lowest stratum in which they occur to those of most modern date, shells and corals constitute by far the greatest proportion. All the strata must have been deposited in seas or lakes, and it is therefore natural that animals living in water should be most abundant; besides, as shells and corals are not liable to decay, they remain, while the soft, boneless animals which inhabit them perish entirely; and fishbones, being more perishable than shells, are comparatively rare.

Shells are by far the most numerous class of fossils: they are found in all formations, from the lowest stratum in which animal remains have been seen, to the most recent deposite now in progress. We shall mention a few of those found in Great Britain. One of these is called the Ammonite, formerly the Cornu Ammonis, that is, the horn of Ammon, from its resemblance to those horns which are affixed to the head of the statue of Jupiter Ammon.

Fig. A is a representation of the exterior of one of the numerous species of which this genus is composed. These shells are found of all sizes, from that of a few lines to nearly four feet in diameter, and above three hundred different species are said to have been observed. When the shell is slit, it exhibits the appearance represented by the annexed fig. B, for it is usually filled with stony matter, and often with transparent sparry crystals. It consists of a series of small chambers or cells, arranged

in a form like a coiled snake, the different cells having apparently a communication with each other by a small tube or canal which runs near the outward margin of the coil. It is supposed that the animal first inhabited the innermost cell, that as it grew it formed larger and larger cells for itself, keeping up the communication with the former one. It is conceived, too, that the animal had the power of filling or emptying these cells, so as to regulate its motion in the water, filling them when it wanted to Occupy the depths of the sea, and emptying them when it wished to make itself lighter in order to rise to the surface. The living shell to which it has the nearest resemblance is the nautilus. This remarkable fossil is found in all the stratified rocks, from the mountain limestone to the uppermost of the secondary strata. It thus continued to be reproduced through many succeeding ages, long after other genera, its first cotemporaries, had become extinct; but it also in its turn ceased to exist at the period when the tertiary strata began to be formed. The shell is so extremely thin, and so brittle, that it is rare to find perfect specimens, unless when preserved by being incased in hard stone.

There are some genera of shells in the lowest strata, containing animal remains, which are also found inhabiting our present seas; but there is not a single species of any of the genera of shells found in the whole range of the secondary strata that is identical with a living species: all are extinct. In the oldest of the tertiary beds, some shells are found identical with living species, and the proportion of these increases the more recent the deposite, until at last they greatly predominate over the extinct species in the more recent deposites. It is thus evident that there has been an extinction of some genera and species, and a creation of others, in a constant