68 



and the short time allotted was but too quickly passed in anti- 

 quarian talk, and sipping classic wine, of which the ancient 

 Komans appear to have left a goodly cellar full — "sunt etiam 

 Ammenise vites, firmissima vina." The juice of the Ammenian 

 grape was most highly appreciated, and helped to strengthen the 

 pedestrians for a rapid walk to the train at Newport. 



The Second Excursion, on May 15th, was devoted especially 

 to geology under the guidance of Mr. Charles Moore, the object 

 being to visit the Trap dike lately discovered by Mr. Moore on 

 the Mendips. The route taken was from Bath to Shepton Mallet 

 by railway. Passing through the latter town, and following the 

 main road, the first halt was called at a section on the right hand 

 side of the road, exhibiting a horizontal deposit of Ehaetic and 

 Liassic beds on the upturned edges of the Carboniferous lime- 

 stone. A fault on one side has brought down the Liassic beds 

 on a level with the Carboniferous limestone, against which they 

 rest at a slight angle. These beds which are of the same geo- 

 logical age as those of the Lower Lias near Weston, and contain 

 the same fossils, are very much like the " Sutton stone " beds. 

 Those Members who were present at the Southerndown excursion 

 last year, were struck with the similar appearance, both lithologi- 

 cally and as regards their fossil contents, which they presented. 

 The first few blows of the hammer revealed the usual fossils of 

 the Lower Lias, Lima gigantea, L punctata, and many specimens 

 of Ostrea liassica. The same bed was traced on some rising 

 ground on the opposite side of the road. The chief peculiarity 

 to be noticed in these beds as compared with the " Sutton stone " 

 series, was the absence of corals, of which during this short visit 

 no traces could be found. Even the flinty Conglomerates which 

 form so conspicuous a feature in the beds at Southerndown, are 

 traceable here. The Members then mounted the Old Eed axis of 

 the Mendips, passing on their road seme ancient Barrows, and 

 followed the Eomano-British road, called the "Eidgway," till 

 \hey arrived at the Beacon (one of the liighest points), an upright 



