188 Reports and Proceedings. 
bed,’ containing abundant Fish-remains. A detailed account of 
these beds was read before the Society during the last session, by 
the late Secretary, R. Tate, Esq., F.G.S. — its fossils being named 
and its proper place in the geological scale assigned. Those, how- 
ever, who desired to see the stratum for themselves, and obtain 
some of its fossils 7m sité#, were disappointed, as it was covered by 
débris, the bank having lately fallen. A number of fossils were 
obtained characteristic of the Avicula-contorta-zone, as Ostrea 
liassica, Modiola minima, Axinus cloacinus, Pecten Valoniensis, 
Cardium Rheticum, and Avicula contorta. 
Ascending the Glen still higher, the party came upon the Upper 
Greensand formation, and the hammers were set to work with sue- 
cess ; many relics of the life of this period being exhumed. The 
only rare fossils found here were the limbs and claws of a new 
Crustacean species, probably a Karnassia (?). Good specimens were 
obtained of Pecten equicostatus, Ostrea semiplana, Exogyra columba, 
and Cucullea fibrosa. The Upper Chalk reposes here upon the 
Upper Greensand.—R. T. 
Tue Bristot Naturatists’ Society.—The third and concluding 
excursion for this season took place on August 15th. The locale 
chosen was the well-known Aust Cliff, especially interesting to geo- 
logists from its containing a thin bed with fossil bones, which has 
also been discovered cropping out at Axmouth, in Devonshire, and 
Westbury, places fully sixty miles distant. 
On this occasion the number was more limited than usual, only 
twenty-four members being present, and no ladies. ‘They left by 
the 12.30 train for the New Passage, and, after a slight lunch at the 
Hotel, walked along the shore in the direction of the cliff. On 
account of the drought scarcely any plants of interest were found, 
and the hardness of the ground prevented the beetles peculiar to 
such localities from making their way to the surface: the scientific 
interest of the walk therefore was solely geological. At the distance 
of a mile the clearness of the air enabled the various strata to be 
readily discerned, the cliff presenting the appearance of a coloured 
geological sectional map. On arriving at Aust, the President, Mr. 
W. Sanders, F.R.S., F.G.S., gave a description of the strata thus 
admirably displayed. ‘These comprise the highest beds of the New 
Red Sandstone, and the lowest of the Lias formation. The red 
marls at the base support about 10 feet of pale greenish marls, 
including a six-inch bed of marly sandstone. Resting on these 
marls the Lias commences with a thin bed containing remains of 
Fish. The next 12 feet consist chiefly of black laminated shales, 
and they include three thin beds yielding remains of Fishes, Insects, 
and various Bivalve Molluscs. The following 25 feet are composed 
of alternations of thick marly clays and thin beds of limestone—the 
highest of which is known as Cotham Marble. This portion of the 
Lias formation has received various appellations: the older geo- 
logists called it the Lower Lias Clays; next it was termed the 
Avicula-contorta-beds, that shell being limited to these strata ; sub- 
sequently it has received the name of Rhetic beds, on account of its 
