“Any limestone which is sufficiently hard to take a fine polish is called _marble_. Many of these are fossiliferous; but statuary marble, which is also called saccharine limestone, as having a texture resembling that of loaf-sugar, is devoid of fossils, and is in many cases a member of the metamorphic series.”[89] The geographical distribution of this group of rocks may be traced thus:—Commencing with the _Bill_ of Portland, (for there is no _isle_ of Portland,) it runs up through part of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, part of Lincolnshire, terminating in Yorkshire, where the lias and oolite may be seen lying conformably or in sequence; the zone we have thus indicated being about thirty miles in width. The following tabular arrangement will supplement this by pointing out the divisions and subdivisions of the oolite; on which, however, we do not intend to dwell, as our only object, in this most preliminary treatise,—and we shall be pardoned again intruding this thought upon our readers,—is to assist in the investigation of our standard text-books on this science:— OOLITE PROPER. 1. UPPER. │1. Portland stone, with underlying dirt-beds. │2. Kimmeridge clay. ──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────── 2. MIDDLE.│1. Coral rag. │2. Oxford clay. ──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────── 3. LOWER. │1. Cornbrash and Forest marble. │2. Great Oolite and Stonesfield slate. │3. Fuller’s earth. │4. Inferior Oolite.—_Lyell._