250 



NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



and bones of Saurians.^ Ccrafodiis is a genus now living in the 

 rivers of Australia. The Bone-bed is not persistent even in the 

 cliff section at Aust ; the uppermost bed of the Rhcetic formation 

 in this area is the Cotham Marble, the main mass of the White 



Lias being absent. Gold Cliff, on 

 the Severn, opposite to Portishead, 

 exhibits Lower Lias and Rhcetic Beds. 

 Li Somersetshire, the Rhajtic Beds 

 are well exposed at Blue Anchor to 

 the west, and at St. Audrie's Slip to 

 the east of Watchet, where the thick- 

 ness is 150 feet. Among other well- 

 known sections, are those in the rail- 

 way-cuttings at Bitton (Willsbridge), 

 Saltford, Kelston and Weston, near 

 Bath (see Fig. 38); at Uphill, near 

 Weston- super- ]\Iare ; Puriton, by 

 Dunball Station, near Bridgewater ; 

 Midsomer Norton ; Chilcompton ; 

 Shepton Mallet ; Queen Camel, near 

 Yeovil (150 feet) ; and Hatch Beau- 

 champ, near Taunton.* 



The Wedmore Stone is a tough 

 shelly and sandy limestone, met with 

 in the Black Shales at Wedmore, near 

 Wells. The ' Flinty bed ' is a com- 

 pact limestone, with shelly bands, 

 found at the base of the White Lias, 

 at Beer Crocombe, near Taunton, 

 from which bed many species of 

 Mollusca were obtained by INIr. Moore. 

 Sandy beds, with PuUastra arenicola 

 and Avicida co?iloria, occur at Sand, 

 near Wedmore, and at Harptree Hill 

 and near Wigmore Farm, on the 

 Mendips. A section of Rhaetic Beds 

 is exposed at Milton Lane, near Wells.^ 

 IMr. Charles Moore has pointed 

 out that many veins and fissures in 

 the Carboniferous Limestone of the 

 Mendip Hills have received in- 

 fiUings of Rhaetic, Liassic, and 

 Oolitic material. One vein has been 



1 Wright, Q. J. xvi. 3S0. 



2 Wright, Q. J. xvi. 382 ; Moore, Q. J. 

 xxiii. 469, etc. ; H. H. Winwood, Proc. Bath 

 Nat. Hist. Ckib, ii. 1871 ; Vertical Sections, 

 Sheets 46 and 47 (Geol. Survey) ; W. J. 

 Sollas, P. Geol. Assoc, vi. 3S5 ; W. B. 

 Dawkins, G. Mag. 1S65, p. 481. 



^ Brodie, Q. J. xxii. 93. 



