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Pennyquick Bottom, the most easterly part of the Bristol coal- 

 basin ; the ascent to the Great Oolite plateau at Odd Down, 

 the descent thence to the Midford valley, for the purpose of 

 examining the " Midford Sands," and return to Bath by way of 

 Beechen Cliif. 



The party, nearly fifty in number, assembled at the Weston 

 Station on the arrival of the 12.32 train, and proceeded at once 

 along the line of rail to examine a quarry and section about a 

 quarter of a mile distant. At the quarry Mr. C. Moore, F.Gt.S., 

 drew attention to a band of shale or marl overlying the thickly- 

 bedded rocks of the "Bucklaudi" zone, as marking a special 

 horizon, traceable in all the Lias quarries throughout the 

 district. This band indicates a change in the character of the 

 deposition, which is marked by the presence of a pecuHar fish- 

 fauna, as evidenced by the occurrence therein of teeth of 

 Hyhodus, Acrodus, Leptolepis and Dapedium. The section next 

 visited — a wide, open clearing on the line of rail — presents one 

 of the finest and most characteristic expositions of the "White 

 Lias " in the district. This section embraces the whole series 

 of beds from the " Keuper " upwards. The " Bone-bed " does 

 not occur on any special horizon, but as distributed over several 

 different beds. The " White Lias," about 12 feet thick, rests 

 on the " Gotham Marble," or " Landscape-Stone," which is 

 about a foot in thickness. At the top of the Lias occurs the 

 so-called " Sun-bed " of William Smith, above which are the 

 " Ostrea Uassica " beds. The " Planorbis " zone is here absent. . 

 A list of the organic remains from the Weston quarries is given 

 in Mr. Mo(iKE's paper on " Abnormal Secondary Deposits " in 

 No. 92 of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 

 December, 1867. 



After luncheon, which was provided by Mr. Handel Cossham, 

 the party proceeded by way of Gross Post Gate and Tiverton to 

 Pennyquick coal-pit. At this point a shaft is sunk through the 

 Lower Lias to a depth of about 160 feet. The beds of coal to 

 be reached are those of the lower coals of the Bristol basin, on 

 the extreme edge of which the shaft is made. The coals being 

 sought for on the edge of a " fault," will probably prove to be 



