80 
REV.  A.  IKYING  OX  THE  BASE  OE 
[Feb.  1893, 
of  the  Sid  and  the  Otter.  On  page  70  (Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc. 
yoI.  xlviii.)  I  stated  that,  while  recasting  that  paper,  I  had  received 
from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dixon,  of  Aylesbeare,  a  specimen  of  a  breccia  from 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Otter  (at  Harpford)  so  nearly  resembling 
that  which  I  had  accepted  for  the  base  of  the  Keuper  on  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  Sid,  that  I  was  inclined  to  attach  great  importance  to 
it  as  tending  to  settle  this  moot-point  for  the  country  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Otter  Talley.  That  specimen  was  shown  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Society  on  Toy.  25th,  1891,  when  the  paper  was 
read. 
At  mv  request  Dr.  Dixon  prosecuted  the  search  for  a  similar 
breccia  for  some  miles  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Otter,  in  order 
to  see  whether  a  sufficient  number  of  exposures  could  be  found  to 
connect  the  Harpford  breccia  with  that  occurring  at  Otterton  Point 
(mentioned  by  Mr.  Ussher,  and  more  fully  described  and  commented 
on  bv  myself),  allowance  being  made  for  the  effect  of  the  faults  visible 
in  the  cliffs  about  Ladram  Bay.1  In  a  few  weeks  I  received  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Dixon  informing  me  that,  while  he  had  failed  to  find 
anything  of  the  sort  on  the  western  side  of  the  Otter  (where  every¬ 
thing  seen  in  river-escarpments  and  road-sections  seems  to  be  unmis¬ 
takably  Upper  Bunter  Sandstone),  he  believed  that  he  had  detected 
the  breccia  at  several  points  along  the  line  indicated  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  river.  For  several  reasons  we  were  unable  to  make 
arrangements  for  going  over  the  ground  together  until  the  end  of 
August,  when  very  satisfactory  results  were  obtained  with  the  aid 
of  the  six-inch  Ordnance  map. 
Beins;  unable  to  get  across  the  Otter-mouth  from  Budleigh 
Salterton,  and  the  time  at  our  disposal  not  permitting  of  our 
making  a  detour  by  the  bridge  a  mile  inland,  we  were  prevented 
from  undertaking  a  re-examination  of  the  breccia  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  estuary  ;  but  this  was  the  less  necessary  on  account 
of  the  close  examination  I  had  made  of  the  breccia  there  in 
1887.2  Crossing  the  river  at  Otterton  to  the  eastern  (left)  bank, 
and  following  the  road,  which  runs  due  north  (in  places  along 
the  river-escarpment)  to  Newton  Poppleford,  we  found  the  breccia 
we  were  searching  for  exposed  on  both  sides  of  the  road  about  half 
a  mile  north  of  Otterton.  There  is  an  ascent  of  the  road  from  this 
point,  with  cuttings  much  overgrown  by  vegetation  ;  but  in  one 
place  a  huge  block  in  the  bank  (apparently  slightly  displaced)  was 
found  to  consist  of  this  unmistakable  breccia.  This  was  about 
halfway  up  the  hill.  In  the  fine  cutting  with  clean-cut  rock- 
walls  near  the  top  of  the  hill  a  little  way  south  of  Press  Lane  (see 
the  six-inch  Ordnance  map)  the  breccia  is  exposed  in  continuous 
horizontal  section  for  a  number  of  yards  on  both  sides  of  the  road, 
with  just  that  slight  difference  of  level  on  opposite  sides  which 
agrees  with  what  appears  to  be  the  general  normal  easterly  dip  of 
the  strata.  In  the  Upper  Bunter  beneath  it  the  same  ramifying 
1  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  vol.  xxxii.  (1876)  p.  381. 
2  See  my  1888  paper,  ibid.  vol.  xliv.  p.  153. 
