VOL. Xv. (3) DENNY HILL SECTION (RHATIC) 265 
Hill, which is distant about 2 miles in a south-easterly 
direction from Chase-End Hill, the southern end of the 
Malvern range, Mr Richardson said that he purposed 
making an excavation with a view to seeing what beds 
were present. Since then the excavation has been made, 
and it showed that the Lower Rheetic was only about 9 
feet thick—7 inches less than Denny Hill." At Lilstock, 
near Watchet, which I visited in company with Mr 
Richardson in 1905, the Lower-Rhetic Black Shales are 
about 38 feet thick. Thus it will be seen that the Black 
Shales vary considerably in thickness at different localities 
in the West of England, much more, indeed, than is 
generally realized. 
The Zstherza-Bed in this section is a pale-cream coloured 
argillaceous limestone in which several examples of 
Estheria minuta var. Brodieana were found. There are 
several lithic varieties of the Astherta-Bed, of which that 
seen in the section is one. Another, namely, that with 
arborescent markings, has been found by Mr Richardson 
in the lane-cutting on the other side of the hill, and it is this 
development of the bed which might be mistaken by some 
for Cotham Marble. The Lsthervza-Bed is the most 
persistent deposit in the Rhetic Series of the West of 
England, being easily identifiable in sections so far apart 
as Garden Cliff, Westbury-on-Severn and Culverhole, near 
Axmouth. When this horizon is found in a section it is 
a comparatively easy matter to correlate the remaining 
Upper-Rhetic deposits with those seen at other localities. 
Hence to find the bed zz sz¢w at Denny Hill was very 
satisfactory. The Upper Rhetic deposit below the 
Estheria-Bed at Garden Cliff measures 5 feet 6 inches; at 
Denny Hill the equivalent deposit is 4 feet 6 inches. In the 
case of the Upper Rheetic, then, as in the lower division, 
there is a reduction in thickness. This fact is interesting 
r Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc, vol. Ixi, (1905), pp. 425-430. 
