LOWER LIAS : SHEPTON MALLET. 87 
At Shepton Mallet a fine section of Lower Lias and Rhaetic 
Beds was exposed in the cutting west of the Great Western 
railway-station. This was described by Charles Moore, and the 
section was afterwards measured by Messrs. W. A. E. Ussher, 
J. H. Blake, and myself,"* while a number of fossils were col- 
lected by R. Gibbs, and identified by Mr. Etheridge. 
The beds shown may be summarized as follows ; the species 
within square brackets are given on the authority of Charles 
Moore : t 
FT. IN. 
Hard blue and grey limestones mostly 
uneven, with alternate bands of blue and 
brown clay. Ammonites Bucklandi, A. 
Zone of 
Conybearei, A. angulatus, \Nautilusstriatus, 
Ammonites -^ Chemnitzia nodulosum], Pleurotomaria, Car- 
BucJclandi. \ dinia, Gryphcea arcuata, Lima gigaiitea, 
III. antiquata, Pecten, Pholadomya prima, 
Unicardium cardioides, Terebratula, [Spi- 
[_ riferina Walcotti], Pentacrinus - about 12 
Zone of j Pale rubbly limestones and clays - -111 
Am. angulatus. \ Pale bluish-grey limestone. A. angulatus - 04 
("Hard and soft blue and grey limestones, 
separated by bands of dark blue clay. 
Zone of J Ammonites planorbis, \_A. Johnstonf], Car- 
Am, planoribis. "l dinia, Lima gigantea, [L. tuber culata~], 
Ostrea liassica, [0. intusstriatd], Pecten 
{_ Pollux, Rhynchonella calcicosta - about 5 
White Lias. 
Among other fossils collected, were Hemipedina, Modiola 
minima.) Ostrea multicostata, and Cryptania rotellceformis. As 
Moore has pointed out, the beds yield some of the forms 
characteristic of the Sutton and Southerndown Beds in South 
Wales ; but we have no indications in this section of the peculiar 
lithological characters seen in the Lias of Downside, Shepton 
Mallet, although the upper beds in this railway-cutting become 
rather more sandy and more closely-bedded than the lower, as do 
some of the upper beds of limestone in the section (previously 
noted) east of Cannard's Grave. It is noticeable, however, that 
many Gasteropoda occur, especially in the Zone of A. Bucklandi ; 
among these, Moore recognized Cerithium nodulosum, and species 
of Tarritella, Littorina, Pleurotomaria, &c. In the same beds a 
number of Foraminifera and Ostracoda were found. 
The limestone-beds seen near Cannard's Grave, are exposed also 
near the Midland railway-station at Shepton Mallet, where a 
quarry showed about 22 feet of blue and grey limestones, 
separated by thin shales. The stone, which is burnt for lime, 
yields Lima f/if/antea,} Gryphaa arcuata, and fine specimens of 
Ammonites Bucklandi^ 2 feet in diameter. The full thickness of 
the Lower Lias stone-beds is upwards of 50 feet. 
Still further north, we come to the area of the " Lias Con- 
glomerate," although actual conglomerate is the exception. The 
beds consist of sandy, granular, and shelly limestones, some of 
* Vertical Sections (Geol. Survey), Sheet 46, No. 15. 
f Moore, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxiii. pp. 505-510. See alw Wright. 
Lias Ammonites (Palaeontogr. Soc.), p. 12. 
