n near Mupe Bay and on the Isle of
Portland, where both the Purbeck and Portland formations are well
exposed, the latter yielding the well-known freestones. In the
north-west of the county the Kimmeridge Clay crops in a N.-S.
direction from the neighbourhood of Gillingham by Woolland to near
Buckland Newton; in the south, a strip runs E. and W. between
Abbotsbury, Upway and Osmington Mill. Next in order come the Corallian
Beds and Oxford Clay which follow the line of the Kimmeridge Clay,
that is, they run from the north to the south-west except in the
neighbourhood of Abbotsbury and Weymouth, where these beds are
striking east and west.

Below the Oxford Clay is the Cornbrash, which may be seen near
Redipole, Stalbridge and Stourton; then follows the Forest Marble,
which usually forms a strong escarpment over the Fuller's Earth
beneath--at Thornford the Fuller's Earth rock is quarried. Next comes
the Inferior Oolite, quarried near Sherborne and Beaminster; the
outcrop runs on to the coast at Bridport. Beneath the Oolites are the
Midford sands, which are well exposed in the cliff between Bridport
and Burton Brandstock. Except where the Greensand outliers occur, the
south-western part of the county is occupied by Lower and Middle Lias
beds. These are clays and marls in the upper portions and limestones
below. Rhaetic beds, the so-called "White Lias," are exposed in Pinhay
Bay.

Many of the formations in Dorsetshire are highly fossiliferous,
notably the Lias of Lyme Regis, whence _Ichthyosaurus_ and other large
reptiles have been obtained; remains of the _Iguanodon_ have been
taken from the Wealden beds of the Isle of Purbeck; the Kimmeridge
Clay, Inferior Oolite, Forest Marble and Fuller's Earth are all
fossil-bearing rocks. The coast exhibits geological sections of
extreme interest and variety; the vertical and highly inclined strata
of the Purbeck anticline are well exhibited at Gad Cliff or near
Ballard Point; at the latter place the fractured fold is seen to pass
into an "overthrust fault."

_Climate and Agriculture._--The air of Dorsetshire is remarkably mild,
and in some of the more sheltered spots on the coast semi-tropical
plants are found to flourish. The district of the clays obtains for the
county the somewhat exaggerated title of the "garden of England," though
the rich Vale of Blackmore and the luxuriant pastures and orchards in
the west may