47 



eastern end of the section of the upper part of the has 

 which IS wanting at Paulton; but M'hether the increase is 

 altogether due to this, or in part to the thickening of the 

 other parts of the has, I must leave to those who have paid 

 more attention to the subject to decide. With respect to the 

 new red sandstone and its conglomerate, there would also 

 appear to be considerable variation in thickness. At Chewton 

 the total thickness appears to be about 200 feet, all or nearly 

 all of this being conglomerate. At Paulton the thickness has 

 decreased to 138 feet, and the conglomerate is represented 

 by a thm bed of 6 feet ; but proceeding eastward to Dunkerton 

 we find the thickness has again increased, the total beinc. 291 

 feet, of which 63 feet is conglomerate. At Batheaston the" divi- 

 sion is only thinly represented, the total thickness being only 

 54 feet, and this is probably due to the same cause which led 

 to so thm a deposit of new red sandstone on the Mendips viz 

 the existence of the Batheaston limestones as a land' area 

 during a great part of the period. If we might judge of past 

 conditions from the conglomerate, we would undoubtedly be 

 led to the conclusion that Paulton and Camerton were com- 

 paratively deep under water during its deposition, and that 

 the increased thickness westward towards Chewton and 

 eastwards towards Combe Down, is due to the limestone 

 ranges of Chewton and Batheaston, which, if they did not 

 exist as land, must have been low reefs of rock. 



In reflecting on the variety of strata bv which the Somerset- 

 shire coal-fiel.l is overlaid, we are inclined to look more 

 hopefully on other districts, where the existence of coal is at 

 present altogether unknown. 



Had the Northern, Central, and Southern parts of the 

 basin (which form only a small portion of the whole) been as 

 completely covered up by secondary strata as are those of the 

 i^st and West, we might now have been labouring under the 

 delusion that no coal-field existed in the county, or that if it 



