582 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The base, therefore, of the Quantock serjips, as at Lynton, cannot 

 anywhere be satisfactorily determined; but that the Eed sand- 

 stone and grits before mentioned are of the same general hori- 

 zon as those of Grabbist and Croydon hills, and partly also of 

 the same red sandstone which occurs at the Hangman and Tren- 

 tishoe, &c., to the west, I do not doubt. They occupy the same 

 position, and have the same relation to the slates and limestones of 

 Asholt, Adscombe, and Over Stowey on the eastern side of the 

 Quantock range that the slates and associated limestones of Ilfra- 

 combe, Combe Martin, Twitchin, Simonsbath, Newland, Luckwell, 

 Luxborough, Higher Broadwater, &c. do to the same sandstones 

 above mentioned, which stretch from Croydon Hill on the east 

 to the Little Hangman in Combe Martin Bay on the west. It is 

 important that this should be understood, because whatever might 

 have been the cause of the great bend, horizontal curve, or move- 

 ment now hidden by the New Eed series of the Stogumber Valley, 

 it is clear that the succession of the Lower sandstone and grits, 

 and that of the succeeding slates and limestones of the Middle group, 

 are as complete in the Quantock Hills as those of Lynton or Combe 

 Martin — a fact unmistakeably borne out by the lithological characters 

 of the rocks as well as by the palaeontological contents of the limestones 

 and slates. The general dip of all the slates and associated coral- 

 limestones on the eastern side of the Quantocks is to the east ; the 

 great limestone beds in the quarries at Adscombe and Over Stowey 

 dip north-east 35°; at the former place they are in solid beds, 

 from 4 to 9 feet in thickness, with partings of shale containing 

 many corals. The character of the limestones in every particular 

 closely resembles the hard crystalline grey and red- veined series 

 of Torquay; they contain many of the same corals, viz. Cyatho- 

 phyllum eceSjpitosum, C Hallii, Favosites cervicornis, Stromatopora 

 concentrica, all abundantly distributed, with HelioUtes porosus, and 

 many Polyzoa*. 



At Ashholt-Wood and Lower-Ashholt quarries, thick-bedded 

 limestones, interstratified with red slaty bands and red grits, are 

 extensively worked. These beds occur on the same line of strike 

 as those of Adscombe, but have a south or reversed dip S.S.W. 

 30°; they are lower in the series than those of Over Stowey 

 and Adscombe ; and, from compass-bearings taken at Cockercombe 

 and to the west of the new court (where the great greenstone, or 

 porphyritic felstone beds are so finely exposed), I have no doubt that 

 a line of disturbance occurs from these latter places through Ashholt, 

 thus reversing the dip in so short a distance. This felstone-por- 

 phyry is interstratified with the slates, to the thickness of 700 

 feett. 



* These limestones take the highest polish, are worked for statuary purposes, 

 and are equal in every respect to those of Plymouth, Newton, Torquay, &c. ; and 

 Lord Taunton has extensively used them in the construction of his mansion at 

 Adscombe, where they are worked into columns, pillars, mantel-pieces, &c. 



t This pale-green porphyritic felstone has been extensively used by Lord 

 Taunton in constructing the new court at Adscombe ; it also takes a fine polish, 

 &nd his lordship has used it in the construction of the fireplaces &e. 



