Reports c5 Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 569 



II. — Geological Society of London. 

 Novemler 4, 1914.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.ll.S., President, in 



the Chair. 



The President announced that, at a meeting of the Council held that 

 afternoon, it was decided to allow all Belgian geologists to enjoy the 

 privileges of the Society during their enforced residence in our country. 

 The Officers would be glad of the co-operation of the Fellows in 

 bringing the names of such Belgian geologists to their notice. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. "The Inferior Oolite and Contiguous Deposits of the Doulting- 

 Milborne Port District (Somerset)." By Linsdall Richardson, 

 F.R.S.E., F.G.S. 



In this paper a detailed description is given of the Inferior Oolite and 

 contiguous deposits in the country between the Bath-Doulting and 

 Sherborne districts. It embraces the country around Bruton, Castle 

 Gary, and Blackford. 



In the northern half of the Doulting-Milborne Port district the 

 bulk of the yellow Upper Lias Sands is of (?i«/>«wsz hemera ; but in the 

 neighbourhood of Cole and Castle Cary the very topmost portion is of 

 dumortiericB hemera. In the south-eastern portion, under Stowell, 

 while the main mass is probably of moorei-dumortierice hemerse, the 

 upper 50 feet or more is certainly of aalensis-moorei date. 



Throughout the greater portion of the district the Inferior Oolite 

 is, without doubt, non-sequentially related to the Upper Lias Sands. 



Rock of ffarantianm hemera spreads over the whole district, and 

 is everywhere non-sequentially related to the beds below. From 

 Doulting to the neighbourhood of Bruton the Garantiana beds rest 

 directly on the Sands. In the neighbourhood of Cole, however, there 

 is a synclinal area, and beds of hlagdeni, sauzer, icitchellice, shirbuirnice, 

 discita, and nmrchisoncs hemera are seen between the Garantmia beds 

 and the Sands. The lower portion of the Discites bed at Strutter's 

 Hill, Cole, is precisely identical, both as regards faunal and lithic 

 characters, with the celebrated ' Fossil Bed' of Bradford Abbas. 



None of these deposits seen in the neighbourhood of Cole is met 

 with again until the neighbourhood of Gorton Downs is reached. 

 An anticlinal axis runs through the middle of the intervening tract, 

 and is along a well-marked line of weakness. 



At Gorton Downs are rocks, oisanzei, ivitehellice, shirhm'niice, discita, 

 hradfordensis, and murchisonce hemerse — that of the first hemera being 

 identical with the " marl with green [glauconite] grains" at the well- 

 known Milborne-Wick section. In this southern portion of the 

 district, as is tlie case also around Cole, it is very difficult to determine 

 the upper and lower limits of the deposits of discitoi, shirhuirnicB, and 

 ivitehellice hemerse. They comprise grey sandy limestones with sandy 

 and marly partings — the whole of very uniform aspect and frequently 

 rich in glauconite grains. 



The rock of garantiance hemera varies much from place to place 

 in thickness and lithic structure. Near the Mendip Hills it is 

 a conglomerate bed ; in the country around Batcombe, ragstone very 

 similar to the Upper Trigonia Grit of the Cotteswolds; at Strutter's 



