TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 59 
GEOLOGY. 
Mr. Whewell reported from the Committee appointed to determine 
the best means of ascertaining the degree of permanency of the relative 
levels of land and sea. He stated that Mr. Bunt of Bristol had been 
engaged to effect the first operations towards this object; that he 
levelled a preparatory line from Bristol to Portishead (a distance of 
10 miles), which proving satisfactory to the Committee, he was sub- 
_ sequently directed to procure the necessary instruments, and to level 
a line from Bridgewater to Axmouth. The course followed was as 
follows: From Bridgewater, near the north bank of the river Parrott, 
to Langport; then crossing the Parrott by the Vale of the Isle, and 
me 11 miles, the town of Ilminster was left one mile on the 
eft, and the levelling carried to the top of the Hill of Chard, which is 
800 feet high, and the only hill encountered ; descending to the south, 
the Vale of the Axe was followed to the sea, the whole distance being 
40 miles. ‘The levellings were twice repeated (once forwards, once 
backwards), and the difference of the two results was only 359, inches; 
but as, in the greatest part of the distance, the difference increased 
_ almost uniformly in going southward, the error was probably due to 
_ some steady cause, and, consequently, the mean of the two results may 
be considered as very near the truth. The precise cause of the error 
has not yet been ascertained, but as the instruments are the property 
of the Association, they can be examined at any future time. Good 
referring-marks have been left to afford means of repeating and ex: 
_ tending the levels, so as to make any future comparison of the state of 
_ the levels with those now ascertained, that being the object of the 
investigation. 
The results of this survey for level cannot be stated until it has been 
_ eontinued to the Bristol Channel. 
| A Notice of Specimens containing Fossil Vegetables, from the New Red 
Sandstone at Stanford and Ombersley, in Worcestershire. By 
James Yates, F.L. § GS. 
Mr. Yates stated, that his object in bringing forward this notice was 
principally to induce others to work out the hint he was giving. In 
_ the N.W. angle of Worcestershire, the new red sandstone is in imme- 
diate contiguity with rocks of the Silurian System, and appears to 
assume some of the characters of the German keuper. The sandstone 
of Stoneyedge Quarry, in the parish of Stanford, is greenish, finely 
granular, and schistose, resembling the fine flagstones of the coal 
_ formation. It contains vegetable impressions resembling those of the 
coal. It has been used for building, and is remarkably durable, when 
laid with its strata horizontal. To determine the geological position 
_ of this sandstone, Mr. Yates traced it for ten milesx—by Martley, Ham- 
