376 Mi*. Horner on the Geology of the 



patches, form regular strata alternating with the red, but at the 

 planes of junction graduating into each other. 



Close by the town of Watchet, in the bottom of the bay where 

 the harbour is formed, the lyas strata appear to come from under 

 the red rock, but as usual the junction is obscured by great dis- 

 turbance. On the western side of the harbour the lyas appears for 

 a very short distance, and abuts against the red rock : at low water 

 the most varied curvatures and dislocations of the strata may be 

 observed. In the red rock eastward of Watchet there are some- 

 times slender veins of calcareous spar running across the strata, 

 and these, as in the lyas strata, are generally accompanied by a 

 slip. 



In this part of the coast the red rock begins to assume a new 

 character, for It contains a large quantity of gypsum which does 

 not appear in it eastward of Watchet. 



§ 45. The coast between Watchet and Blue Anchor is com- 

 posed of the red rock with grey patches, similar to that in the 

 eastern part of the district, of another variety of it containing gyp- 

 sum, of a blackish indurated clay traversed by gypsum, ajid of the 

 lyas strata. All these appear in the cliffs and on the shore at dif- 

 ferent intervals, but the great disturbances in the stratification have 

 thrown the whole into such confusion that I found it impossible 

 during my stay to come to any satisfactory conclusion as to their 

 relative positions. No description without the aid of plans and 

 sections would be intelligible, and these could only be made with 

 accuracy by a residence for some time on the spot. It would 

 amply repay the labour of any geologist who might undertake the 

 task, for the coast abounds with interesting phenomena, and he 

 would probably be able to determine decisively whether the red 

 rock does or does not alternate with the lyas strata. He would at 



