Yol. 67.] THE EH^TIC OP WEST, MID, AND EAST SOMERSET. 11 



III. Local Details. 

 (1) West Somerset. 



In West Somerset Rhaetic deposits occur in two tracts : the one 

 a small outlier capped with Lower Lias at Selworthy ; and the other 

 in the comparatively long stretch of country alongside the coast, 

 extending from Blue Anchor Point to the Parrett at Combwich. 



(A) The Selworthy Outlier. 



Rhaetic beds are not now visible in this outlier ; but, since the 

 ordinary Red Keuper Marls are to be seen in the bank of the 

 Porlock Road, and the Ostrea Beds are worked in the wood at the 

 turning out of the main road for Blackford, there is no reason to 

 think that they are otherwise than normally developed, although 

 very probably not so thickly as at Blue Anchor. 



Etheridge has referred to some section in this outlier, which was 

 open when he visited this neighbourhood about 1870, as the 

 'Lower Yenniford ' section ] ; but he gives no details concerning it, 

 and I have not been able to locate it. . 



(B) The Watchet Area. 



(i) Introduction. — The Watchet area is best known in 

 connexion with the discovery, by Prof. Boyd Dawkins, of the teeth 

 of the earliest-known mammal, Microlestes rhceticus, at a distance 

 of 10^ feet down in the marls that were then called the 'Grey 

 Marls.' 2 



The Bone-Bed at Blue Anchor was first discovered by one Robert 

 Anstice, who obtained a considerable number of vertebrate remains 

 therefrom, 3 and attention was again drawn to it in 1860 by 

 Thomas Wright. 4 



Then came Prof. Boyd Dawkins's paper in 1864 5 ; which was 

 followed by one from Etheridge entitled ' Notes upon the Physical 

 Structure of the Watchett Area, & the Relation of the Secondary 

 Rocks to the Devonian Series of West Somerset.' G He discusses 

 the St.-Audrie's-Slip and railway-cutting sections 'south of 

 Watchett' in some detail; and refers to that at 'Little Stoke y 

 (Lilstock), but there is no mention of that at Blue Anchor. 



On Sheet 47 of the Vertical Sections, published by the Geological 

 Survey, is a record of the St.-Audrie's-Slip section by Bristow & 

 Etheridge (1873). 



In 1896 the Geologists' Association visited the neighbourhood, 

 and a paper, of the nature of a resume, was written for use on 



1 Proc. Cofcteswold Nat. F. C. vol. vi (1871-77) p. 37. 



2 Q. J. Gr. S. vol. xx (1864) pp. 397-402. 



3 Trans. Geol. Soc. ser. 2, vol. i (1824) p. 301. 



4 Q. J. G. S. vol. xvi (1860) p. 384. 



5 Ibid, vol. xx, pp. 397-402. 



6 Proc. Cotteswold Nat. F. C. vol. vi (1871-77) pp. 35^8. 



