GEOLOGY OF SOMERSET. 127 
Genlagy af Sumerset. 
BY MR. W. BAKER. 
COME before you as one of the representatives 
of the natural history department ofthis society, 
to offer a few observations on the most striking 
geological features of our highly interesting field 
of research, —the beautiful county of Somerset. 
The course which I have laid out for myself is, 
to pass from the oldest formation, in the order of 
geological time, to our rich alluvial lands, which 
are now in a state of accumulation ; and to offer 
a few brief remarks on the features of the principal 
formations, merely to open the way for future 
papers of detail, on the numerous interesting por- 
tions of the province, which we now call our own. 
More than thirty years ago, a young member of 
our very oldest geological family,—syenite— was 
observed at Hestercombe, one of the extended 
branches of the Quantock-hills, and the fact re- 
corded in the transactions of the London Geological 
