372 Reports and Proceedings — 



the Lias quarries tlirougliout the district. This band indicates a 

 change in the character of the deposition which is marked by the 

 presence of a peculiar fish-fauna, as evidenced by the occurrence 

 therein of teeth of Hyhodus, Acrodus, Leptolepis, and Dapedius. 

 The section next visited — a wide open clearing — presents one of the 

 finest and most characteristic expositions of the White Lias in the 

 district. This section embraces the whole series of beds from 

 the "Keuper" upwards. The "Bone-bed" does not occur on any 

 special horizon, but is distributed over several different beds. The 

 " White Lias," about twelve feet thick, rests on the '•' Gotham 

 Marble," or " Landscape Stone," which is about a foot in thickness. 

 At the top of the Lias occurs the so-called " Sun-bed " of William 

 Smith, above which are the beds of Ostrea liassica. The " Planor- 

 bis " zone is here absent. A list of the organic remains from the 

 Weston quarries is given in Mr. Moore's paper on Abnormal 

 Secondary Deposits in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological 

 Society for 1867, vol. xxiii. pp. 449-568. 



After luncheon, which was provided by Mr. Handel Cossham, the 

 party proceeded in carriages by way of Cross Post Gate and Twerton 

 to Pennycuick coal-pit. At this point a shaft is sunk through the 

 Lower Lias to a depth of about 160 feet. The beds of coal to be 

 reached are those of the lower coals of the Bristol basin, on the 

 extreme edge of which the shaft is made. The coals being sought 

 for on the edge of a " fault " will probably prove to be much broken 

 and of inferior quality. From Pennycuick the carriages ascended 

 the steep hill, by the Old Foss way, and passed over the Inferior 

 Oolite and " Fuller's Earth " beds to the plateau of the Great 

 Oolite at Odd Down (ascertained by aneroid to be 450 feet above 

 the Avon at Bath), and descended on the other side into the valley 

 of Midford, where the new line to Evercreech was in process of 

 construction. Here an excellent section was presented, cut out of 

 the " Midford Sands " of William Smith, and by him considered 

 to occupy the place of the Upper Lias — a wonderful example of the 

 diagnostic faculty of the " Father of English Geology," which later 

 and more exact knowledge has confirmed. These beds are doubtless 

 the equivalents of the •' Upper Lias Sands " of Frocester Hill, and 

 are overlaid at this point by the Trigonia Grits of the Parkinsoni 

 Zone, representing the highest beds of the Inferior Oolite ; the Oolite 

 Marl and all the subjacent beds (200 feet thick) being absent; 

 and this is found to be the succession of the beds throughout the 

 Bath district. 



It was now time to commence the return journey, and at four 

 o'clock the party assembled at Mr. Cosshara's new residence at Weston 

 Park, where about fifty sat down to a sumptuous entertainment pro- 

 vided by their kind and generous host, this being the third successive 

 Year in which the Cotswold Club has partaken of the same splendid 

 hospitality. Dinner being over. Dr. Wright was called upon by the 

 President to read his pi-omised paper on "The Genesis of the Oolites." 

 This paper was deferred at the previous meeting of the Club through 

 want of time to read it ; and even on the present occasion the time 



