South-Western Part of Somersetshire. 347 



so liable to partial irregularities, it is exceedingly difficult to form 

 any general conclusions as to the bearing and dip of the strata* 

 Every geologist must have observed that the external shape of a 

 hill is not always a certain guide in determining the bearing of the 

 strata that compose it, and that in many places other causes must 

 have operated in producing the external forms which the earth now 

 exhibits. I believe however that the general bearing of the 

 strata in question may be stated to be between east and west, and 

 that the dip is more generally to the south than to the north. 



§ 8. In the ridge which terminates at North Petherton, there 

 are at Binfords some very large quarries where the gradation of 

 one variety of rock into another may be seen. In the lower part 

 of one of the beds there is an accumulation of rounded masses of 

 an oblong shape, varying in size from a few inches to several feet, 

 in the direction of what may be termed their longest diameter. 

 Their internal structure is often identical with the adjoining strata 

 of grauwacke, but they more frequently consist of a succession of 

 thin concentric layers, these layers being of the same substance 

 with the strata, but separated from each other by a thin coating of 

 oxide of iron, having the shining lustre of hematite. The smaller 

 of these masses more nearly resemble a large mytilus than any 

 other shape to which I can compare them, and the larger of 

 them preserve nearly the same form. They appear to have been 

 consolidated while the rock in which they are imbedded was in a 

 soft state, for the surface of the bed on which they rest is covered 

 with the moulds of those that have been removed. 



§ 9. Near Ely Green in the side of a combe called Dibbles, 

 towards the summit of the Quantock hills, I observed a variety of 

 slate differing considerably in appearance from any I met with in 

 the district except in one other spot. It is of a bluish green 



2x2 



