50 REPORT — 1864. 



considerable angle, about 60^ N.N.E. ; some of tbem being very lossiliferoiis. The 

 lower beds, which occasionally appear, for a short distance, along the north shore of 

 Wood-hill Bay, are of a reddish tint, and sometimes full of crinoidal joints, accom- 

 panied by a few corals, Michelinea, &c. Beyond this the shore of the bay becomes 

 flat for about a quarter of a mile, the beach being covered with shingle, principally 

 derived from the Old Red Sandstone cliffs, from whence the fish remains were ob- 

 tained. The beds forming the cliffs, consisting of deep red shales and sandstone, com- 

 mence a little to the south-west of Beach Cottage, rising gradually, and continuing, 

 with tolerable uniformity, for rather more than eleven chains ; their greatest height 

 being about 34 feet. The ground above this, at the commencement of Portishead 

 Down, attains, however, more to the south, a considerable elevation, 364 feet being 

 marked on the map as its highest part, near Down Farm. This ti-act of Old Red 

 Sandstone extends along the coast, to the south-west, for about four miles, being 

 occasionally exposed on the beach, and sometimes covered imconformably by a 

 great conglomerate, composed of angiilar and partial!}' rounded blocks of limestone, 

 &c., imbedded in a yellow cementing paste (one of these blocks measm-ing nearly 

 6 feet in length)? This in'egular deposit was formerly called Dolomitic Conglome- 

 rate, but is now considered to be part of the New Red Sandstone series. Diagrams, 

 showing horizontal and vertical sections of the cliff', were exhibited, measurements 

 of the principal beds having been taken at each chain for that pm-pose. The series 

 of deposits were described as consisting of alternations of deep red, micaceous, 

 flaggy beds, and shales varpng in thickness, with thick-bedded compact red and 

 yellow sandstones and quartzose conglomerates, the general dip being about 20° south. 

 The fish remains alluded to in this communication, of which enlarged drawings were 

 exhibited, were foimd Ijoth in the conglomerate and the micaceous flags ; they con- 

 sisted of scales of Huloptychius nobi/issimns and Glyptolepis elegans, with detached 

 bones, and a fragment of scale ha'\'ing an external ornamentation like that of 

 Bothriolepis or Astcrolepis ; together with what appeared to be fin-rays of a fish 

 like Glyjjtolepis or Platygnathus, in a yellowish sandstone. 



On the South Wales Mitierdl Basin. By A. Bassett. 



On the Foramimfera of the Middle and Upper Lias of Somersetshire. 

 By Henry B. Brady, F.L.S. 

 This paper was presented to the Section as a sort of supplement to Mr. Charles 

 Moore's paper on the geology of the district. After enumerating the few scat- 

 tered memoirs which form the scanty literature of the subject, the author gave a 

 brief outline of the great Nodosarian gi'oup, to which almost all the Rhizopods of 

 the Upper and Middle Lias belong, particularizing some of the more important forms 

 which occur in the district. Passing alliusion was also made to the so-called 

 Nummulite of the Lias, and this organism was assigned to a much lower type 

 (Invohitina) than the true Nummulites. The author stated that he was at present 

 engaged upon the Liassic Foraminifera generally, and exhibited a series of draw- 

 ings, made from specimens in Mr. C. Moore's collection, of the species occurring 

 in the upper and middle portion of the series. 



On the Bhcetic (or Penarth) Beds of the Neir/hhourhood of Bristol and the 

 South- West of England. By Henry W. Bristow, F.B.S., F.G.S., of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain. Communicated by Sir Hoderick I. 

 MuncHisoN, K.C.B., D.G.L., LL.D., F.R.S. 



In this paper the author stated that, having received orders from the Directors 

 of the Geological Survey to ascertain whether the Rhretic beds were sufficiently 

 developed in this country to be represented by a distinct colour on the one-inch 

 maps, he visited several localities in the spring of the present year, and made de- 

 tailed sections of the vfirious beds at Saltford, Pyle Hill, and Uphill near Bristol ; 

 Aust and Garden Clifi'on the banks of the Severn ; Combe Hill near Cheltenham; 

 "Watchett in Somersetshire, and Penarth near Cardifl"— in all which places, in addi- 

 tion to the strata being carefully measured bed by bed, the fossils were also identi- 



I 



