113 
MEETINGS OF SECTIONS. 
GEOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Thursday, November 28th. — Mr. C. F. Ravis in the chair. There 
was a good attendance, and two new members were proposed. 
Mr. W. W. Stoddart, F.G.S., read a Paper entitled " Notes on the 
Palaeontology of the Bristol District." It was given in reply to enquiries 
addressed to the Author for a list of the strata and the localities within 
easy reach for the study of Geology, and its object was to describe a few 
such good localities from which typical fossils could be obtained, whence a 
tolerably good knowledge of the district might be obtained. After some 
preliminary remarks upon the advantages of the study of Geology, aud the 
best mode of pursuing it, the Author observed that the neighbourhood of 
Bristol was so good, combined with the facilities of access afforded by the 
railways, that two-thirds of the whole Geological scale was within the reach 
of a day's excursion, the district ranging from the lowest bed of the Upper 
Silurian to the highest bed of the Lower Oolite, passing through the 
Devonian Carboniferous, Millstone Grit, Coal-measures, Trias, and Lias. 
The city itself lay in a hollow between two elevated table-lands, and was % 
built on an alluvial soil now depositing, which extended from the mouth of 
the Avon to Bath, aud overlay mammaliferous gravels. The Lias approached 
very near the surface in many places. The Author then proceeded : — 
"An examination of the accompanying Table will show the localities of all 
the strata before mentioned. 
"The Silurians, you will observe, can be studied with great advantage at 
Tortworth, where they occur with the protrusion of Trap rock. 
" The fossils at Dainory Bridge are Upper Llandovery, of the same age as 
those of May Hill. 
" In the Tortworth District the Ludlow and "Wenlock beds are seldom opened, 
but when they are they yield very perfect Shells, Trilobites, &c. 
" Near Longhope Station is an excellent quarry for Ludlow forms, and in 
the adjoining lands all the typical "Wenlock fossils may be collected. 
" The Devonian beds may be seen on the banks of the Avon, both in the railway 
cutting below Cook's Folly, and on the south bank of the river. 
" In the description of these beds in the Geological Transactions is a mistake 
which has been copied in succeeding works, [ namely, that the Devonian beds 
reach, to the wood under Cook's Folly. It also says they commence immediately 
below the Ichthyocopri bed. In reality the first decided Old Eed bed does not 
appear for one hundred feet below that spot. Hardly any traces of fossils are 
as yet known. 
"Above the Devonian is a complete and connected series of all the strata 
mentioned in the Table, to which the members are referred for details. 
