S46 Mi*. Horneu on the Geology of the 



sented in the 33d and 34th Plates of the 2d. Volume of the So- 

 ciety's Transactions. 



§ 6. In every part of the district where the slaty varieties pre- 

 vail, the ends of the inclined strata as they rise to the surface be- 

 come either vertical or are very much twisted. Here however the 

 contortions appear to have taken place after the induration of the 

 stone, for they are not in the form of curves, but are in ge- 

 neral a succession of sharp angular twistings, with a fracture at 

 every angle. The strata in general as they approach the surface 

 are also very much traversed by those imperceptible cracks which 

 make the rock, as soon as it is moved from its bed, break down 

 into polygonal fragments of various dimensions. Hence are pro- 

 bably derived those loose fragments which are to be found under 

 the surface soil all over the district where this formation occurs, and 

 even at the summits of the highest hills. In the ravines formed by 

 the streams in the lower parts of Dunkery beacon, there are sec- 

 tions of some yards in depth where nothing is seen but these frag- 

 ments, imbedded in a loose red sandy soil, which is doubtless pro- 

 duced from the decomposition of the fragments themselves. The 

 angular shape of the fragments is an additional proof that they have 

 been produced on the spot, and that they are not materials trans- 

 ported from a distance. The most remarkable instances of these 

 angular contortions are to be noticed in the lanes between the vil- 

 lage of Enmore and West Monckton, and the other roads which 

 cross the south-eastern ridges of the Quantock hills. I may par- 

 ticularly point out the neighbourhood of Adsborough, and the 

 lane leading to Tarr near Kingston, where the ends of the strata of 

 slate are covered by horizontal beds of red argillaceous sandstone 

 and of conglomerate, 



§ 7. In a country covered by vegetation, and where the rock is 



