54 MR. L. RICHARDSON ON THE Rfl^TIC OF [Feb. I9H, 



The limestone called the ' Wedmore Stone ' is prominent, and in 

 the past has been extensively worked in the neighbourhood of the 

 country-town whence it derives its name. But now not a single 

 quarry is open, and even traces of former workings are difficult to 

 locate. 



The stratigraphical position of the Wedmore Stone has been the 

 subject of discussion. Prof. Boyd Dawkins, in 1864, showed 

 clearly enough that it occurred in the Pteria-contorta Shales, 1 

 although J. H. Blake was dubious about the matter 2 ; but in 1887 

 Mr. H. B. Woodward agreed with Prof. Dawkins that it occurred in 

 the Black Shales. 3 Its true position is about 4 feet above the base 

 of the Pteria-contorta Shales, and about 13 below the horizon of the 

 bed that I regard as equivalent to the stratum numbered 15 (or 

 the main Bone-Bed) in other places. 4 



In the neighbourhood of Sand, the Grey and Tea-green Marls 

 are succeeded by 4 feet of ' greenish calcareous shale full of Avicula 

 [Pteria] contorta,' and this by the Wedmore Stone; but the bulk 

 of the deposit between the Wedmore Stone and the Bone-Bed 

 (Bed 15) is a soft ferruginous sandstone. 5 



I have not observed any sections of the Cotham Beds in this 

 inlier, and there are no details available to show how thick 

 they are. Mr. W. A. E. Ussher noticed a bed at West Stoughton, 

 which he thought might represent the Cotham Marble ; but, as the 

 Jew Stone, which is the top-stratum in this district of the Langport 

 Beds, is also reputed to resemble Cotham Marble ' in texture 

 and character [although] without dendritic markings,' some care is 

 required in its identification. 



The Langport Beds are occasionally exposed at the bottoms of 

 quarries in which the principal strata worked belong to the Lower 

 Lias. The details with regard to the beds about the junction of the 

 Langport Beds with the Lower Lias were all obtained in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Stoughtons — a group of villages situated north-west 

 of Wedmore. Pour quarries were in work when I visited the neigh- 

 bourhood for the fourth time, in June 1909. The section in the 

 quarry near the farm, hal t'-a-mile south-west of Ashton Church, is 

 described on p. 55. 



The local names of the beds were communicated by one of the 

 quarry men. In this quarry the Blue- Li as Bed 8 was represented 

 by fragments of limestone in the soil ; but it is seen in situ at a 

 quarry in a field, on the right-hand side of the road from Ashton to 



1 Q. J. G-. S. vol. xx (1864) pp. 403 et seqq. 



2 'Geology of East Somerset & the Bristol Coal-Fields' Mem. Geol. Surv. 

 1876, p. 85. 



3 « Geology of England & Wales' 2nd ed. (1887) p. 250. 



4 The most satisfactory pieces of Wedmore Sto'->e, from a palgeontological 

 standpoint, that I obtained came from a pond-excavation on the north side of 

 the road, 3 furlongs due north of Mudgeley Farm. 



5 The only exposure now available is in the sides of a pond, in the field by 

 the roadside opposite Sand Farm. 



