48 



spreading over these alluvial beds, rendering, I have little doubt, 

 the Bath basin just such as the Bladud tradition might enable us 

 to realize. 



The Bath waters when passing through or over a particular spot 

 for a time, leave a deep red or ochreous deposit, and when the 

 excavations at the Hotel were being made through the alluvium, 

 unmistakeable evidence, by the presence of similar mineralogical 

 deposits, was obtained, that the hot waters had at different times 

 been flowing over the surfaces of the beds where they were found, 

 and down as far as the next stage the mammal drift gravel below. 



At this point it may be desirable to notice the curious fact that 

 at the present time the Bath waters bring away from the upper 

 beds they pass through some of their organic remains. In one of 

 the wells there is deposited a quantity of quartzoze sand, and 

 mixed with this 1 have found the following specimens. 



Corals, several species 



Bryozoa 



Serpulse 



Univalves, several species 



Pentacrinite stems 



Eutomostraca 



Cristellaria and other Fora^ 



minifera 

 Fish tooth 

 Fragments of coal 



Hazel nuts, abundant 



Seeds of Potamogeton, sometimes 



electrotyped with iron pyrites 

 Carus seeds 

 Other seeds 



Insects of several kinds 

 Fragments of bones, and also the 



following fossils 

 Spirifera oolitica, Moore 

 Echini, species of 



The explanation of this is that the water in passing to the 

 surface comes in contact with the drift, and brings away both the 

 comparatively recent and the fossil contents of the deposit. The 

 presence of coal seems also to indicate that it may touch those 

 beds in their passage upwards. 



llie Mammal Drift. 



Under this head are included all the gravel deposits of the 

 district. They are found at the base, and underlie the fresh water 

 marls above noticed. In the sections I have given it will be seen 

 that they rest upon the upper beds of the lower lias. This is also 

 the case where they are found at Saltford, Newton St. Loe, in the 



