128 PAPERS, ETC. 



after he had read his paper to the British Association, 

 in 1837, and are probably recorded in his manuscript bock, 

 which is now the property of the society. 



It might be asked, how was it that fossils in the Can- 

 nington Park Limestone were so long hid from the 

 Observation of good geologists? I answer, the highly 

 crystalllne nature of the stone was the cause. The organic 

 remains are unusually concealed in these beds ; but now 

 the eye has detected these objects, although they are so 

 obscure, we shall in future find them abundant. The 

 crystalline character of the stone, is no doubt to be 

 attributed to the volcanic action which uplifted the rock, 

 for trappean Ked Stone fills up many fissures in the hill ; 

 and volcanic cindera, connecting trap and altered Lime- 

 stone, are not uncommon on difFerent'parts of the hiU. 



Cannington Park has been marked on one or two geo- 

 logical maps as Mountain Limestone, but without fossil 

 evidence ; and for many years it has been doubtM in 

 what series of strata it shoidd be ai'ranged. Li different 

 parts of the Quantock Hills are beds of Limestone, almost 

 composed of madripores, corals, and encrinital fragments ; 

 but hitherto no moluscous sheUs are recorded to have been 

 found in these beds ; therefore they may be of a very dif- 

 ferent geological age, perhaps mach older than the Can- 

 nington Park Limestone. 



Humboldt in his great work, " The Cosmos," says : 

 " Some strata furnish only the Impression of a shell, but 

 if it be one of a characteristic kind, we are able on its 

 production, to recognize the formation in which it was 

 found, and to State other organic remains which were 

 buried with it. Thus the sheU brought home by the dis- 

 tant traveller, acquaiiits us with the geological character 

 of the countiy which he has visited." 



