184 Correspondence. 



these all but seventeen are proved by their remains to have inhabited 

 Somerset, viz : — man, the cave-lion, the cave-panther, the wild cat, 

 the cave-hy^na, the wolf, the fox, the glutton, the marten cat, the 

 otter, the badger, the cave-bear, two species of bat, the bison, the 

 urus, the reindeer, the red deer, the roedeer, the musk-sheep, the 

 Irish elk, the wild boar, the horse, two species of rhinoceros, two 

 species of elephant, the water-rat, the hare, the rabbit, the marmot, 

 and the extinct hippopotamus. 



ooieiaiESi^oiiTXJiBnsrcE. 



ON THE DISCOVERT OF A BED OF DEVONIAN CORALS AT 

 WITHYCOMBE, WEST SOMERSET. 



To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



Sir, — There is a band of Limestone, mentioned by Sir H. de la 

 Beche, in his Geological Eeport on Cornwall, Devon, and West 

 Somerset, which is traceable at intervals from Ilfracombe to Withy- 

 combe, the intervening localities being Combe Martin, Simonsbath, 

 Cutcombe, Duxborough, and Treborough, and to quote his words, 

 " if we be right in referring the Limestone of the Quantocks to the 

 same band, it is carried round by Doddington, Asholt, and Cothel- 

 stone Park, the connection being concealed by the Eed Sandstone 

 series, the Lias, and the Sea." 



The existence of Coral-beds in the portion of this Limestone band 

 exposed in the Quantocks has been ascertained by Mr. J. D. Pring, 

 •of Taunton, and the only genera and species that I at present know 

 to have been found in them — though doubtless there are many 

 others — are the following : viz., Alveolites suhorhicularis, Favosites 

 polymorpha [cervicornis, M. Edwards), Favosites reticulata, Heliophyl- 

 Mm Halli (?), Endophyllum abditum, and an Acervularia. Of these 

 species, specimens, presented by Mr. Pring, are to be seen in the 

 Museum, at Taunton, and in the Collection of the Geological Society, 

 at Somerset House. 



In the spring of 1860 I was so fortunate as to discover that a 

 Coral-bed existed in the Withycombe portion of this Limestone 

 band, partially exposed in the fields above Sandhill Farm. I was 

 very much interested in the discovery, as I had never expected to 

 meet with Fossils in the Devonian Rocks of the neighbourhood, and 

 from this time, till Weft the district in 1863, 1 made occasional visits 

 to the spot, and searched every part of the bed, which is exposed 

 over a very small area, repeatedly and thoroughly, and succeeded in 

 collecting a great number of specimens. These I have named chiefly 

 by means of polished sections, and the following is a list of their 

 genera and species. 



