Morris — Geological Excursion to Bathy ^c, 233 



the Gold Coast. There is also, among many others, an important and 

 valuable paper by the Kev. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S., on Holoth- 

 uria, or Sea-cucumbers, soft-bodied vermiform Echinoderms, much 

 sought after as microscopic objects, on account of the beautiful cal- 

 careous spicules which are found in the skin. Being soft-bodied, 

 their occurrence in the fossil state is always doubtful, although some 

 instances are on record. One of the plates is very nicely executed. 



I^:E:poI^TS jl.j<tid I^i^oo:B:BX)IJ^a-s. 



Geological Excuksion to Bath and its Neighboukhood. — The 

 students attending the Geological class at University College, Lon- 

 don, made an excursion to Bath with the view of acquiring some 

 practical lessons in field geology. They were accompanied by 

 Professor Morris, Mr. D. Forbes, Mr. Beale, Dr. Murie ; and were 

 met at Bath by Mr. C. Moore, F.G.S., whose intimate knowledge 

 of the Geology of Somersetshire materially assisted their researches, 

 as that gentleman kindly accompanied them to all the most im- 

 portant geological localities. 



Bath is well situated for geological exploration, as not only are 

 there many well-exposed sections, but the physical features of the 

 district afford striking evidence of the denuding agencies to which 

 the whole area has been subjected, and from which has resulted — 

 owing to the characters of the rocks — the picturesque scenery of 

 the district. The sections around Bath afford good opportunities 

 for studying the Lower Oolitic strata — i.e. the Lower, Middle, and 

 Upper Lias, the Inferior Oolite, Fuller's earth, and the different 

 beds of the Great Oolite, — all of them shewing the very difi'erent 

 conditions under which they have been deposited. This is well 

 marked in the Bath Oolite series, where the comparatively finer 

 stone, known as the Bath freestone (an Oolitic rock largely worked 

 and used for building both there and elsewhere) is well distin- 

 guished from the upper coarse shelly limestone containing corals, 

 sponges, and Bryozoa, and frequently presenting false-bedding due 

 to ancient current action. It is to the alternation of these hard 

 and soft strata that the terrace-like appearance of the vallej^s is 

 due; while, at the same time, their alternate permeable and imper- 

 meable nature are the sources of the water-supply of the neigh- 

 bourhood, as seen in the springs bursting out at the top of the 

 Fuller's earth and Liassic beds — an arrangement which W. Smith 

 availed himself of, in lajdng out the canal system of the Oolitic 

 districts — these clay beds presenting also, more or less, sloping 

 banks and irregular ground. The bottom of the valleys near Bath 

 are filled to some height with an old alluvium termed " Mammal 

 drift," containing remains of the Mammoth {Elephas primigenius) 

 and the Musk ox {Ovibos moschatus), etc. 



The railway now making from Bath to Mangotsfield, near Weston, 



VOL. v.— NO. XLVII. 16 



