254 DR. H. HICKS ON THE MORTE SLATES, AND [May 1 896, 



13. On the Morte Slates, and Associated Beds, in Worth Devon 

 and West Somerset. — Part I. By Henry Hicks, M.D., F.R.S., 

 P.G.S. (Read February 5th, 1896.) 



[Plates X. & XI.] 



Contents. 



Page 



I. Introduction 254 



II. Morthoe and Woolacornbe to Bittadon 257 



III. Eockhara Bay, Bull Point, Lee Bay, Lee, and Slade 261 



IV. Mullacott, Shelfin, and Ilfracombe 262 



V. Woolscott Barton, Surithson, and Berry Down 264 



VI. Summary of the Stratigraphical Evidence in North Devon 264 



VII. Description of the Fossils found in North Devon 266 



Geological Map of the Ilfracombe and Morthoe Districts 259 



I. Introduction. 



Hitherto the Morte Slates have received but scant attention from 

 geologists, owing to the fact that in all text-books, and in geological 

 papers on North Devon, they have always been referred to as un- 

 f ossiferous ; and all that was known with regard to them up to the 

 year 1887 is well summarized in the following paragraph taken from 

 the second edition of Mr. H. B. Woodward's well-known work, ' The 

 Geology of England and Wales,' p. 127 : — ' This division, termed the 

 Morte Slates by the Rev. D. Williams, derives its name from Morte 

 Point, on the north-west coast of Devon. The term Mortehoe Group, 

 from the village of that name, was used by John Phillips. The Morte 

 Slates, or " grey slates," comprise pale greenish-grey and silvery 

 grey glossy slates, much veined with quartz, and having a thickness 

 estimated at from 3000 to 4000 feet. No fossils have been found ; 

 nor have any limestone-bands been recognized in them. The beds 

 rest on the Ilfracombe Beds at Lee Bay, and the subdivisions which 

 can be traced are noted by Mr. Etheridge (in ascending order) as 

 the Lee, Rockham Bay, and Morthoe Beds. The Morte Slates pass 

 downwards into the Ilfracombe Beds, and in Mr. Ussher's opinion 

 they are simply an upper unfossiliferous portion of this lower 

 division, since it is impossible to fix any definite boundary between 

 them. Simonsbath is situated in the valley of the Barle, between 

 the Ilfracombe and Morte Beds. Eastwards they extend to near 

 Wiveliscombe, where they are exposed at the Oakhampton Slate 

 quarry, north of that town. The slaty beds of Hestercombe, north 

 of Taunton, are probably on the horizon of the Morte Slates. The 

 valuable spathose iron-ore of the Brendon Hills occurs in these 

 beds.' 



