THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Cotteswold Uaturalists’ FIELD CLUB, FOR. 186s: RPresident. ——- Dice Bresivent. Sin W. V GUISE, Rant... T. B. La? BAKER; Esa. F.L.S., F.G.S: F,S.S. Secretary. , W. H. PAINE, M.D., F.G:S. F.M.S. Contents. The Prefident’s Addrefs, 1866. On the Phyfical Structure of the Northern Part of the Briftol Coal Bafin. By Rozerr Erneripes, F.R.S.E., F.G.S. On the Datura Tatula. By Profeflor Buckman, F.G.S., F.LS., F.S.A., &c. On the occurrence of Ancyloceras Annulatus in Dorfetthire. By Locxwart Kennepy, Esq, Communicated by Profeffor BuckMAN. On a Seétion of the Lias and Recent Depofits in the Valley of the River Frome, at Stroud. By E. Witcuett, F.G.S. Additional Notes on Cleeve Hill Section. By Tuomas Wricar, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.G.S. JOHN BELLOWS, STEAM PRESS, GLOUCESTER. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Cotteswold Uaturalists’ Bie icp CLUB FOR 1866 ——_——_+—_——_-~ President. Vice-President. Sir W. V. GUISE, Bart., T. B. Lt. BAKER, Esg., | F.LSrGS. FSS. Secretarp. W. H. PAINE, M.D., F.G.S. Contents. The Prefident’s Address, 1867. / On Stone Roof Tiles of Roman date. By Profeffor James . Buckman, F.G.S., F.L.S., &c. F ‘On Coral Reefs, Prefent and Paft. By Tuomas Wricnt, M.D., ~ F.R.S.E™ F.GS. The Drybrook Section. By Joun Jones and W. C. Lucy. JOHN BELLOWS, STEAM PRESS, GLOUCESTER. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CG otteswold Uaturalists’ FIELD CLUB FOR 1867. President. Vice-President. Sir W. V. GUISE, Barr., T. B. Li. BAKER, Esa., E.E;Si, FG's. F.S.S. Aecretarp. W. H. PAINE, M.D., F.G.S. Contents. The Prefident’s Addrefs, 1868. On oe oe of the Cottefwolds. By E. WircHett, Efq., F.GS. Notes on the Roman Villa at Chedworth. By the Rev. S. Lysons, M.A., F.S.A. } The Waterfhed of the Upper Thames. By Jonn Bravenper, 1 » Efq., F.G.S. | Remarks on the Waterfhed of the Cottefwolds, in connexion with 7 the Water Supply to the Metropolis. By J. H. Taunton, 4 Efq., M.I.C.E. | Suppofed Permian Beds at Portfkewet. By Roserr Erueripce, Efq., F.R.S.E., F.G.S. Py oe each eae PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD NATURALISTS’ FIELD CLUB. Hiloucester : PRINTED BY JOHN BELLOWS, WESTGATE STREET. 1868. CONTENTS. —_——_ Annual Address, read at Elmore Court, March 21, 1866. By Sir W. V. Guisz, Bart., F.L.S., F.G.8., President . A Glosterzhur Zong on the Kerlock , On the Physical Structure of the Northern part of the Bristol Coal Basin. By Rosert Eruerrpes, F.R.S.Ed, F.G.S.. On the Datura Tatula. By Professor Buckmay, F.G.S., FE.LS., FS.A., de. : : ; : On the Occurrence of Ancy Seep Annulatus Doce By Locxuart Kennepy, Esq. On a Section of the Lias and Recent Weposia in the Valley of the River Frome, at Stroud. By E. Wrircuett, F.G.S. Additional Notes on Cleeve Hill Section. By Tuomas Wuewn M.D., F.R.S.Ed., F.G.S. Annual Address, read March 27, 1867. By Sir W. V. Geis, Bart., F.L.S., F.G.8., President f On Stone Roof Tiles of Roman Date. By ee Buenas F.G.S8., F.LS., &e. : 3 ; ; : : On Coral Reefs Present and Past. By Tuomas Wricut, M.D., . F.RS.Ed., F.G.S. Section of the Transition Beds of the ola Red Etitabine aiid Carboniferous Limestone, at Drybrook, in the Forest of Dean. By Joun Jones and W. C. Lucy. : Remarks on Drybrook Section. By Joun Jonus, F.G.S., F.AS.L., &. : Annual Address, read March 25, 1868. “By Sir Ww. V. Guise, Bart., F.L.S., F.G.S. PAGE 175 194 196 On the Denudation of the Cotteswolds. By E. Wircue tL, F.G.S. Notes on the Roman Villa at Chedworth. By the Revd. S. Lysons, M.A., F.S.A. : : 5 ‘ F The Watershed of the Upper Thames. By Joun BRAVENDER, Remarks on the Watershed of the Cotteswolds, in connexion with the Water Supply to the Metropolis. By J. fake Taunton, M.I.C.E. ; ; E : 5 : . Supposed Permian Beds at Portskewet. By Rost. ETHERIDGE, F.R.S.E., F.G.S8. 233 Address to the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club. Read at the Annual Meeting, held at Elmore Court, on Wednesday, March 21, 1866. By the President, Sir W. V. Guiss, Bart., F.L.S. GENTLEMEN ,— The return of spring summons us again to the field; and as your President I claim the privilege of assembling you for the first meeting of the season under my own roof, where I hope the non-observance of one of our early rules, which forbad the acceptance of hospitality, may be condoned. The rule is a good one in its way, and it would be well that a too frequent infraction of it should not be encouraged. I have, however, taken upon myself occasionally the responsibility of dispensing with its too rigid observance; and perhaps there is no occasion upon which it may be so appropriately relaxed, or more gracefully dispensed with, than upon that of our annual gathering, when so much of our time must necessarily be occupied with routine business. I am again happy to have it in my power to report most favourably upon our condition and prospects, which are in every respect satisfactory. Our numbers continue undiminished, our - work maintains its usual high character, and the attendance at our field meetings has been, with one notable exception, good. To that exception I must call your serious attention. Upon the 19th of July last the Club accepted the invitation of our friend and colleague Professor Buckman to Bradford Abbas, upon which occasion your President found himself almost alone at the rendezvous, much to his own disappointment and that of our worthy associate, who had made most hospitable arrangements for the entertainment of the Club. B : 4 ’ 4 For the last four years the Club has, at my suggestion, adopted the practice of fixing one of our meets outside the boundary of the County of Gloucester. I have strongly urged the advantage of observing this custom, because it tends to enlarge our views, extend our knowledge, and widen our influence, while affording opportunities for much social and intellectual inter- course with students of science outside of our own limited circle, together with a field of observation, the very novelty of which should be a special attraction. But I have observed with regret, that the advantage of these opportunities has never received that cordial recognition from the Club which their importance claims. I can only attribute this to the fact that the utility of these meetings has never been thoroughly recognised among us; yet their manifest and intrinsic attractiveness would seem to need no expositor to recommend them to our acceptance. I know that other Field Clubs, not more wealthy nor more numerous than our own, find no difficulty in organising distant meets. I would instance the Woolhope, the Malvern, and the Worcestershire Field Clubs, amongst whom such excursions are popular and well attended. In spite, then, of previous failures, I feel it a duty to continue to urge upon you the practical value of carrying out my views in this respect; and I take leave to express a hope that your President may not again find himself in the unenviable position of sole representative of the Club ina remote district, amongst strangers who could not fail to form a depreciatory opinion of an Association thus feebly represented. The statement of our financial condition, as submitted by our Secretary, will be found to be satisfactory. I must observe, however, that the balance is small; and, small as it is, it is due to the fact that Dr. Wricur has been unable, from pressure of other work, to complete another fasciculus of the Lias Ammonites, that we are able to show a balance in our favor atall. This is © not as it should be; we are engaged in publishing a class of illustrated works, which tend greatly to exalt the reputation of our Society. It is only necessary to refer to the paper by Mr. Erueripves, which will appear in the forthcoming fasciculus of our transactions, beautifully illustrated by numerous sections, 5 ‘ and a map of the district treated of, to show that if we would not starve our work we must consent to a higher annual sub- scription than 10s. At our Annual Meeting last year, I gave notice of my intention to move a resolution to the effect that our annual subscription be increased from 10s. to 15s., which will I hope be accepted and confirmed by a vote at the present meeting. I must not conclude these prefatory remarks without recording the loss which we have incurred by the death, within the past year, of one of the original founders of the Cotteswold Club, Dr. Samurt P. Wooopwarp, of the British Museum. In 1845 he was appointed Professor of Botany and Geology in the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, in which capacity he first joimed our ranks, and by his amiability and geniality of dis- position won the esteem and regard of all who were brought within the circle of his acquaintance. In 1848 he removed to the Metropolis, having been appointed first-class assistant in the department of Geology and Mineralogy in the British Museum. Subsequently he became Examiner to the Council of Military Education, Examiner in Geology to the University of . London, and Member of the Council of the Geological Society. The University of Géttingen had recently conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in consideration of his eminent scientific services. He was the author of a popular work on Conchology, known by the title of “A Manual of Recent and Fossil Shells,” which is recognised as one of the best text- books in that department of science. He was a large contributor to various scientific and literary periodicals; and the Reports of the British Association from 1841 to 1856 contain many valuable papers from his pen. Though never a contributor to the published _ papers of the Cotteswold Club, he was from the first among its warmest friends and supporters. His great stores of knowledge, and practical acquaintance with all branches of Natural Science, caused his aid to be frequently sought by enquirers, to whom it was always ungrudgingly given, and never with heartier readi- ness than when sought by young enquirers, especially of the Cotteswold Club. During many of the latter years of his life B2 ; 6 he was a pitiable sufferer from acute chronic asthma, which wasted him toa shadow, and finally caused his death, by the bursting of a blood-vessel. I will now record the proceedings of the Club at its different meetings during the past season. Wednesday, 29th March, 1865. The annual meeting of the Club was held at the Bell Hotel, Gloucester, when Mr. Lucy, to the great regret of the Club, announced his inability any longer to continue the aid of his valuable services as Secretary; and Dr. Patne, of Stroud, having intimated his willingness to per- form the duties of the office, he was unanimously chosen to fill the vacant post. The President read his address; after which he vacated the chair, and on the motion of the Rev. W. 8. Symonps, was re-elected to the office. The President then read a transla- tion of the official report to the Belgian Government, by Mons. Epovarp Dupont, of a scientific examination of certain ossiferous caves on the river Lesse, in the province of Namur, made during the year 1864, which have yielded a mass of important evidence on the antiquity of man in those regions, through the discovery of a vast quantity of bones of our species, associated with those of the reindeer, chamois, elk, bear, bison, &c., under conditions which show that they had been subjected to the action of a vast cataclysm of waters. The vast abundance of bones of the reindeer point to climatal conditions very different to those now prevailing, and to an antiquity commensurate with the altered geographical and terrestrial relations which the surface of Northern Europe then, in all probability, bore to that which it exhibits at the present day. The only implements found with these “‘reindeer men” were of flint of the rudest type; no trace of metal of any kind having been found associated with these remains. . The picture drawn by Mons. Dupont, of Belgium as it existed in those remote ages, is worth transcribing, and claims attention on the ground that it is not the wild vision of an enthusiast, but the calm and studied deduction of a cool-headed philosopher, drawn from an accumulation of facts most carefully observed, and presenting such a remarkable association of phenomena as 7 to afford a basis of comparison in the case of other and analogous deposits, in which the evidences may be less complete or less perfectly preserved. M. Dupont says: “I picture to myself our mountainous regions as they existed at that period, with their frosts, their forests, their inhabitants, so different from those of the present day. The fine rivers, furrowing the diversified surface of our country, were covered with ice during many months of the year. The oak, the birch, the pine, and the hazel, decked with their dull greens the broken precipices, and were covered with frost and snow during a long winter. The reindeer in great herds; the elk, with broad and palmated antlers, roamed in the forests; the horse and the ox cropped the grass which was never harvested by man; the chamois bounded from rock to rock; the ungainly bear fed during summer upon the juicy roots and young shoots of trees, and passed the winter in a state of lethargy—the rapacious glut’on; wolves and foxes innumerable carried havoc among the peaceful” denizens of our forests: and amidst these conditions of nature, partaking at the same time of those of the Alps and of Sweden at the present day, appeared Man; not endowed with those wondrous gifts of civilisation, which render him to some extent master of all the elements, but in a state of the most extreme barbarism; the rocks provided him with shelter in their dark cavities, the skins of beasts served him for clothing; perpetually in search of food he passed the day in forests white with frost, hunting the wild animals. His works of industry represent a condition of civilisation wholly rudi- mentary ; neither copper, iron, nor any of the metals which are the mainspring of society as it is at present constituted, were known to him; flints rudely worked, and sharpened bones, supplied him with arms and with household implements.” A more recent report of M. Dupont to the Belgian Govern- ment brings the record up to the end of last year, and confirms in all respects the conclusions arrived at from his previous examinations. He says: “The man of the caves of the Lesse _ inhabited the country before an immense inundation covered all Fi Belgium and the North of France; I find manifest proofs of it 8 everywhere. The earth of La Hesbaye, the yellow clay of our fields, are the results of this great event; and the remains of the inhabitants of the caverns are buried under a thick mass of earth left by the torrential waters. Of extreme violence at its commencement, this inundation abated by degrees its disastrous effects, and covered the surface with fertile earth. Man to-day draws life and wealth from that which to his ancestors brought only death and destruction.” “This inundation,’ he adds, “whether regarded from a historical or geological point of view, carries back the antiquity of the aboriginal population of the Lesse to a period of several thousands of years.” * After dinner, Mr. Erurrinver, Palzontologist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain, read an admirable paper on the Rhetic or Avicula contorta beds at Garden Cliff, Westbury-on-Severn, which he illustrated by some beautiful sections made by him and Mr. Bristow, of the Geological Survey. He gave an explanation of the sections, and referred to the leading fossils characteristic of each bed, which for the occasion had been furnished from the Museum at Gloucester, and from the col- lection of Mr. Lucy. This paper is now included in the published transactions of the Club, and will hereafter form the standard authority respecting the beds of which it treats;—beds which, though they occupy but a small and apparently insignificant space in this country, never exceeding one hundred feet in thickness, are the representatives of deposits of vast extent and importance in Austria, Italy, France, Hanover, Savoy, Saxony, Bavaria, and Switzerland, throughout which extensive area this group is everywhere characterised by the cosmopolitan Avicula contorta, the name of which, as applied to the beds in question by Dr. Wricut and others, is truly typical of the zone. Mr. Erueripves concluded by arguing from the insignificant outlier at Garden Cliff, the importance of the careful study of local sections, as furnishing the connecting link with distant and more extensively-developed masses which constitute an important feature in the structure of Europe, and to which we ~ * From a Translation by Joun Jonzs, Esq. 9 must refer for the solution of certain problems, and for the connecting links in time and space which are wanting in our own thinner but not less important sections. A paper was next read by Professor Buckman, “On some Flints found near Bradford Abbas.” This paper had reference to certain flints bearing evidence of man’s handicraft, which had been picked up on the surface of the Professor’s farm in Dorsetshire, and was illustrated by well-executed representa- tions of the various forms under which these articles present themselves. The following dates and places of meeting for the season were ‘agreed upon:— ‘ Wednesday, May 24. . . Stroud. Wednesday, June21 . . . Aust. 2 Wednesday, July 19 . . . Bradford Abbas. Wednesday, Aug.16 . . . Tortworth. Wednesday, Sept. 27 ~ Beckford. By a vote of the Club it was Bi HipKOod that retired Presidents should be ea-officio Vice-Presidents. T. B. Lu. Baxer, Hsq., therefore becomes Vice-President. The First Field Meeting of the Club was held at Stroud, on Wednesday, 24th of May. I was myself unavoidably absent on this occasion, and am indebted to our Secretary for a report of the proceedings of the day. The members assembled at the Midland Railway Station at Stonehouse, shortly before 11 a.m., and first proceeded to inspect some objects of interest at Stonehouse Court, where they were met by Mr. Henry Martine, who afforded them every informa- tion. The party then separated: some of the Geologists, headed by Mr. Wrrcuett, taking their course for the quarries on Doverow Hill, where the sections exhibit the ‘‘Cynocephala stage” of Dr. Lycrrt. The other detachment made their way across the fields to Stanley St. Leonards, and spent two hours very pleasantly, inspecting the ancient and interesting church in that village, with the remains of the old priory in the manor- house adjoining. Here they were met by the Rev. D. Jonzs, incumbent of Leonard Stanley, who most obligingly gave all the information in his power. 10 The church, which is dedicated to St. Swithin, is a fine specimen of Middle Norman, probably about 1120. Certain alterations in the chancel appear to have been made about 1310. — It is cruciform; and the tower, which is very massive, contains four bells and a clock. A small monastery, dedicated to Saint Leonard, was established here at a very early date; it had a prior and canons, one of whom, Dr. Crossz, is buried in the south aisle of the church, probably about 1190. The pea = on the tomb appears to have been as follows:— * Qui jacet hoc tumulo Doctor John Crosse nominatur Alle Prior Stanlp Sancti fuerat Leonardi Hune sancto rotulo scribat Deus et tueatur.” This Priory was dissolved with the Abbey of Gloucester in the reign of Henry VIII. A very ancient stone coffin in the south transept of the church attracted much attention. A very general opinion was expressed by the members present, in favour of a complete restoration of this ancient and venerable church, to be carried out, not for the benefit of Stanley only, but for the credit of the County at large. The members of the Club, including the party from Doverow Hill, proceeded to Stanley House, where they were most hospit- ably entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Maruine. From Stanley House the party followed the course of the Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway, to the Light Pill cutting, from whence, leaving the line, they made their way to the Gas Works, to examine a fine section in the upper beds of the Lower Lias, there exposed to a depth of 20 feet, in the excavation for the new gasometer. The sewage works, under the direction of Dr. Brrp, in the field adjoining, were shown to the Club by that gentleman, who demonstrated to all the perfectly innocuous character ‘of his deodorising process, and its complete success in abstracting all trace of sewage matter from the overflow in the tail-water channel. From this point the Club proceeded to Stroud, and dined at the George Hotel in that town. 11 After dinner Mr. Lucy, who, in the absence of the President, occupied the chair, called the attention of the Club to a communication he had recently received from Mr. Joun Jonzs, in reference to some comments made by Mr. J. Gwynne JeFrREys on a statement contained in Mr. Wircuent’s Paper on the Stroud Hill deposits. Mr. Jurrreys had written to Mr. Jonus as follows:— “ T observe, in the last number of the Geological Journal, that Mr. Epwiyn Wrrcue 1, of Stroud, states on your authority that Helia lamellata is not found south of Scarborough. He accord- ingly draws certain conclusions from this statement, in his account of a deposit at Stroud which contained this species in a fossil state. You will find in the first volume of my work on British Conchology, p. 175, a more southern range recorded, viz. Anglesea (McAndrew) and nearly every part of Ireland. I have myself taken it in the most southern extremity of Ireland. I also noticed it as one of the Copford fossils. As I do not know Mr. Wircuetn’s address, you may communicate this to him. Helia fulva is a species of Zonites; and Zua is now discarded by Continental Naturalists.” The following is the reply of Mr. Jones :— “ Bruxelles, April, 1865. “The enclosed note reached me some time ago from Mr. JEFFREYS, but I was at the time too busy to notice it. It is well for the Club to know that some exception has been taken to my statements, although I cannot see in what way my argument is controverted. I, give certain recorded English localities in which a given mollusk occurs in the living state, at present; and I particularly describe a locality in which I found it dead and sub-fossil, and where no one pretends to have found ‘it living. From all the information to be obtained from con- tinental works, as well as from those of our own country, the only conclusion to be arrived at is that it once occupied a more extensive area than at present, and is now dying out, e.g. it is no more found living at Grey’s, in Essex, than at Stroud Hill, although found abundantly at both places in the fossil or sub- fossil state. Unless we accept these facts as they come before 12 us, we have the alternative of believing that the isolated spots mentioned by my friend Mr. Jerrreys are so many centres of creation of one insignificant species. “Tf there should be any doubt at all about the existence of Hela lamellata as one of the living mollusks of Gloucestershire, it would be well if the Cotteswold Club would give its mind to it. Mr. WircHet.’s collection will prove in the most satisfactory manner that it once existed at Stroud Hill. I sent specimens to the President, and have his receipt in full for them, and there cannot be a more unmistakable species.” The Rev. F. Surry, at the request of the Chairman, gave a short account of the proceedings of the Geological section during the day. He said that the cutting on the Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway had proved to be interesting, not only on account of its fossil contents, but from the fact that the excavation affords an opportunity of examining a zone of the Middle Lias in a series of beds which are never worked for their intrinsic value, for the workings into the Marlstone for the sake of road-metal always stop short of the peculiar underlying beds which had been on that day visited. Wallets might soon have been filled with the characteristic fossils of the section. The zones included, comprise those from the Spinatus to the Jameson, and well deserve close working. They constitute the “Micaceous Sandstone” of Murchison. A few of the leading fossils met with were as follows:—Ammomnites maculosus, common; Belemnites brevis; Myacites, sp., abundant; a large Pinna, not unfrequent; Monotis inequvalvis ; Arca, not, unlike A. Buckmanni; Rhyn- chonella concinna; large Pecten; Modiola scalprum; Pholodomya ambigua; and Crinoidal remains. Mr. Surrue thought it would be very desirable to look for the Leptena bed, which he had found on Churchdown Hill, in a similar Geological position. Mr. Wrrcuett stated that he had found the Leptena-bed in some cellar excavations near the railway ‘station at Stroud, where it was of about the same thickness as at Churchdown— from one to two inches—and he had no doubt that it would be found at the Light Pill cutting. Mr. Wrircuett then called attention to the gravel-beds at Stonehouse, and at the Gas 13 Works section, and inferred from their condition that consider- able changes had occurred during the period in which the bottoms of the Stroud Valleys had been excavated, and the deposition of the gravel, and afterwards of the peat, had taken place. All these gravels rest upon excavated hollows in the Middle and Lower Lias, and there is no trace of any transition period between the excavating and depositing processes. The subject was suggested as one for further investigation and discussion by the Club, and of importance in its bearing on the great question of our valley formations. Wednesday, 21st June. The Second Field Meeting of the Club was held at the New Passage, distant about two and a half miles from Aust Cliff, by a most delightful walk along the banks of the Severn. The state of the tide was very favourable for a complete examination of the base of the cliff, and the Geologists were thus enabled to make a careful survey of the section, and to obtain a good series of characteristic fossils. The escarp- ment at Aust Cliff is well known as presenting a fine section of those remarkable alternations of shales and marls, now known as - the Rheetic or ““Pennarth Beds,”’ with their accompanying Bone bed, of which the section at Garden Cliff, Westbury, so well described by Mr. Erunrives, is another and typical example. I am indebted to Mr. Erueripes for a short account of the Aust section, which, with the beautiful diagram annexed, is well worthy of study and reference. Notes upon the Rhetic Beds at Aust Cliff, with relation to those at Westbury-on-Severn. Tue Valley of the Severn, in many localities, is famous for its exposed sections of the newly discovered and ‘interesting _ deposits termed “Rhetic,” the beds of which at Westbury, _ Aust, Coombe Hill, Wainlode Cliff, Patchway, &c., have succes- 14 sively received some direct or incidental notice at the hands of investigators. The two former, however, have become classical in the annals of Geological investigation, having received the earliest and most marked attention, arising doubtless from the favourable nature of the exposed sections, and the difficulty also of clearly understanding them, as well as the remarkable assem- blage of organic remains which occur in the black, grey, and brown Marls and Shales, &c., which make up the mass of strata above the Red Marls at the base of both sections. All these conditions of late we have been able more fully to understand, and also to correlate with a similar order of things in many parts of the continent; and thus our own Severn. Valley sections—those of Gloucester and Somerset—stand unrivalled, both on physical and paleontological grounds. I need only instance the truly grand sections of Pennarth and Watchett, Uphill and Purton, which, with those above mentioned, are unequalled in Great Britain and elsewhere, save on the flanks of the Rhetian Alps and parts of Lombardy. A memoir may be written on either of the sections named, and a slight one has been attempted, descriptive of the Garden Cliff or Westbury section,* in which. the chief facts were successively detailed, and their relation to other sections in the County alluded to. I now attempt to compare the Aust section with that of Westbury; and although they are similar in many respects, yet in others they differ. Aust.—The first authentic notice of Aust Cliff occurs in the Trans. of the Geological Society, Vol. 1, (see Series p., pl. 37,) m Messrs. Bucknanp and ConyBEare’s Observations on the South Western Coal District of England ; and afterwards by Sir Henry -DE tA Brecue and Mr. W. Sanpers, in Mem. Geo. Surv. Great Britain, Vol. 1, 1846, p. 253. It has been incidentally mentioned and partly described by many since, when treating of the distribution of the Lower Lias, Avicula contorta zone, or Rheetic beds, of which we now know its chief mass to be composed. * Read at Gloucester, March 29th, 1865. ( 15 Mountain or Carboniferous Limestone.—The bed of the Severn, from the most projecting point of Aust Cliff, is composed of the lower beds of the Mountain Limestone, which at low water are exposed, and covered with Fuci. The Gypseous Marls of the High Water. Low Water. Nu Red rest upon them, the entire series of the New Red Sandstone being absent—indeed, were never deposited—a some- what remarkable feature in this district, and clearly indicates that the overlie of New Red upon the Mountain or Carboniferous Limestone of the western side of the Bristol Coal Field (north) is exceedingly thin and occurs in patches. The points marked “ Ulverstone,” in the Severn at Aust and Upper Beach, are both on these Limestones, and also St. Tecla’s Chapel. I mention this as a point not known to all, though visible at low water; and as another instance of the variability of level of these Limestone masses, I may bring again to your notice the fact of the Rhetic beds being also upon them in the Earl of Ducie’s Park. ; : New Red Marls.—These beds, the upper member of the New Red series, constitute the base of the Cliff at Aust. They are Gypsiferous—the Gypsum being of the fibrous variety—though not sufficiently pure to be used as Plaster of Paris. At the base of the section the beds are somewhat sandy, and rest upon the upturned Carboniferous Limestones. The following measure- ments may be relied upon, being numbered from the base ~ upwards; but which in my section I will reverse, and give their true order. . New Red Sandstone. Rheetic. a l ( | 1 | l 16 ‘ Carboniferous Limestone at the Base. fis ine 1 Red Sandy Marls, sandy at the base especially . oo @ 2 Gypsiferous series, (fibrous Gypsum, ) occurs in string- an 6 like lines and thin beds at all angles 3 Series of Marls, having conchoidal fractures. 52 0 4 Thick bedded, red striped, and nodular greenish 14 0 Marls . ; = : } 5 Sandy Marls, in nodular masses, blue, gray, and 6 6 green in colour : : 6 Thin band of Argillaceous or Sindy Miistond: COD) | giol0 taining Lime : ; ; ; ) 7 Marls having a green hue, breaking up into small nodules (nodular fracture,) and sandy or agile} 2-6 arenaceous Shales at the base 8 Pale grey arenaceous Marls, with Sandstone nodules, and a calcareous matrix; becomes indurated in 0 places. Passing into the Marls and dark Shales, or Bone Bed series ; 9 Pale greenish grey, and yellow conchoidal Marls. a th Veined yellow. Hard and crumbling . 10 Pale brownish grey, Sandy Marl; indurated . 0 4to6 11 Ochreous band. : . : : : Oy ee | 12 Pale greenish grey, Sandy Marls, weathering whitish, and ea with hard coneretony} 3 3 nodules 13 Dark grey or black Shales, weathering into at ae or white efflorescence ; hard thin bands 14 Bone Bed (Fish Bed.) Dark grey Crystalline } Siliceous Limestone or Grit, in places containing igs nodules of grey Marl, or argillo-arenaceous a masses, re-constructed from Marls below, and 1 to 6 highly conglomeratic in places. Saurian and Fish Remains thin bands of calcareous or arenaceous matter. 15 Black Shales, thinly laminated; here and there Jao Fish Scales, &c. SECTION.—AUST CLIFF, AUST PASSAGE. Space of 13 feet. (No. Ft. In, a 2 3 Q White Lias series. 8| 0 = Shales. 8 tats Gh 27 am Upper Pecten Bed. Black Shales. Lower Pecten Bed. Bone Bed. arweo co cae RHATIC SERIES. Pale Grey Arenaceous Marls. Nodular Arenaceous Marls. Argillaceous Band. ano ory sacs Sf ) 5) 6) 6} Sandy Marlstone. 4/14] 0 ea] oe -3| 82] 0 e wm Q a =< : * n | Q fx = ah | “i ; a 3 | 0 | z 17 16 Lower Pecten Bed. Blue, hard, grey, shelly Lime- stone, evenly bedded, and full of the ordinary Rheetic Fossils, Av. contorta, Pecten Valoniensis,+ 0 8 Cardium Rheticwm, Pullastra, Anatina, Axinus, Anomia, &e. : : : : : 17 Black Shales, (Avicula Shales,) with