BKISTOL NATURALISTS' SOCIETY. 
From the Bristol Daily Post of November Uh, 1865. 
The usual monthly general meeting was held on Thursday 
evening last, at the Philosophical Institution, under the 
presidency of Mr. W. Sanders, F.R S , and, probably from 
jthe inclemency of the weather, was not very numerously 
I attended. After reading the minutes of the previous meet- 
ing, the honorary secretary, Mr, A, Leipner, made a state- 
ment of the probable expenses and arrangements for the 
I proposed soiree, which gave rise to some discussion, and it 
was eventually agreed that the consideration should be post- 
Iponed until next season, with the view of ascertaining more 
j definitely the amount of support which would be given to 
ithe scheme by the members generally. 
I Mr. Charles Ravis read a very excellent paper on two 
iraised beaches at Weston-super-Mare, illustrated with good 
drawings of the locality and geological specimens. After 
describing the carboniferous limestone promontory, of which 
Swallow Cliff forms the termination, the author said that, 
ascending the hill from the end of Sand Bay, and following 
the direction of a wall which ran diagonally across the 
promontory, a point was reached on the opposite side, over- 
looking at a height of 20 or 30 feet a small bay with a 
pebbly beach, strewn with conglomerate boulders, much 
water-worn, which were masses of an ancient sea beach 
fallen from the face of the cliff, where similar masses might 
be seen in situ. The upper portion of this ancient beach was 
composed of loose friable matter, containing sand, pebbles, 
shell fragments, &c., partly held together by the roots of the 
turf growing on the top of the cliff. The whole beach was 
three or four feet in thickness and lay horizimtally, and 
therefore unconformably, upon the limestone strata. Its 
extent inland had not been determined. After some re- 
marks on the subject of raised beaches generally, as indicat- 
ing an upward inovement of the land taking place during 
the present period of geologic time, Mr. Ravis pointed out 
the occurrence of a large mass of trap rock almost perpen- 
dicularly under the limestone strata immediately supporting 
the raised beach, and described the effect of the protrusion 
of this igneous rock upon the limestone at the pomt of con- 
tact of the two. The author then stated the results of his 
search on the south side and more elevated parts of the hill, 
where, underneath the turf, a stone was turned up, appa- 
rently in situ, which had very many of the characteristics 
of a portion of beach, spf cimens of which were shown, and 
he also indicated the possible existence of an ex- 
tensive raised beach, at a high level, unconnected with 
local igneous action. The second locality described 
was Birnbeck Cove, where a trap dvke was seen 
stretching across the beach from the limestone cliffs 
to low-water mark, and where, again associated with igneous 
rock, what was probably a raised beach might be seen in the 
face of the cliff, immediately under the turf. Very few 
shells were discoverable in the conglomfrate, but numerous 
fragments of bones of comparatively recent mammals were 
found, which must have been mixed up with the sand and 
pebbles while still subject to the action of the sea. Above 
this, on the other side of the road, was a bed of sand similar 
to those formed by the action of the wind near flat recent 
sea beaches, and another deposit, at about the same height, 
occurred at Brean Down. Mr. Ravis cencluded his paper 
by pointing out that the occurrence of these sandy 
and pebbly deposits at about the same height seemed to 
indicate a general rising of the land along the entire 
coast, occasioned probably by plutoaic action. 
