Vol. 6$.^ INLIER IN THE EASTERN MENDIPS. 219 



seven trenches was dug, from which a considerable amount of 

 information embodied in the following pages was obtained. 1 



II. Description of the Exposures. 

 (1) The Lava or Trap. 



In the Geological Survey-map, on the scale of 1 mile to the inch, 

 the trap is shown as forming three principal masses : — 



(1) A western mass extending westwards from the road between Stoke 



Lane and Waterlip to the neighbourhood of Knapp's Farm, with a 

 detached portion still farther west on Beacon Hill. This may be 

 called the Sunnyhill and Beacon-Hill mass. 



(2) A central mass, with a nearly square outcrop, lying immediately east 



of the Stoke Lane-and-Waterlip Road. This may be called the 

 Moon's-Hill mass. 



(3) An eastern mass, the eastern extremity of which commences near 



Downhead, stretching in a westerly direction almost parallel to the 

 main Frome Road for about a mile ; this may be called the 

 Downhead and Tad hi 11 mass. Small isolated patches are also 

 mapped on the southern border of the Sunnyhill and Beacon-Hill 

 mass. 



For purposes of description the foregoing arrangement may be 

 retained, although it is probable that the Moon's-Hill mass is 

 continuous with the Sunnyhill and Beacon-Hill mass. 



As has been already mentioned, much of the mapping is based 

 on material thrown out by moles and rabbits, and it is sometimes 

 a matter of difficulty to decide whether the material has been 

 derived from the weathering of solid trap or of trap-blocks in the 

 coarse ashy conglomerate. When tuff-debris is mingled with the 

 trap, the rock is mapped as coarse ashy conglomerate ; when 

 trap-debris occurs alone, trap is mapped. 



The Sunnyhill and Beacon-Hill mass. — The westernmost 

 region where trap-debris uumingled with tuff was found, was in 

 the fields lying in the angle between the Wells-and-Frome Road 

 and the Beacon-Farm Road, much debris having been thrown out 

 in fixing a new fence. Farther east, at a point 350 yards west of 

 the ' Waggon & Horses ' Inn, large blocks of trap occur in some 

 shallow gorse-grown depressions close to the Boman Road. These 

 depressions appear to represent old trial-workings, and from them 



1 I have had the advantage of going over many of the exposures with two 

 members of the British-Association Committee, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan and the 

 Rev. H. H. Winwood, also with Dr. A. Strahan, Mr. F. R. Cowper Reed, and 

 Mr. E. E. L. Dixon. To all these gentlemen I am much indebted for help and 

 suggestions. 



The excavations carried out under the auspices of the British Association 

 have been much facilitated by the kind assistance of Mr. Ashman, of Beacon 

 Farm, and Mr. Huntley, of Tadhill Farm, to whom I desire to express 

 my thanks. My thanks are further tendered to the Marquis of Bath and 

 Sir R. Paget, the owners of the land on which the excavations took place, and 

 to their respective agents, Mr. E. C. Treplin and Messrs. Wainwright & Hurd, 



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