Conglomerates, and Marls of Devonshire. 31 
is probably most abundant a short distance west of the latter point, 
where it was formerly worked for commercial purposes. It fre 
quently has the effect of rendering the marl harder and tougher 
than it is elsewhere. 
Small landshps, mainly due to the action of springs, are of 
frequent occurrence from the Mouth of the Exe to Beer Head. 
In most cases the waves have access to the fallen matter at every 
high water, so that it is speedily removed ; but between Weston- 
Mouth and Branscombe-Mouth (a distance of nearly three miles), 
there is, at the foot of the cliff, an almost continuous talus, 
apparently the product of a very large number of such slips, which 
in some places is cultivated and in others is overgrown with brush- 
wood. Fortunately the Trias attains a greater height than the 
uppermost line of vegetation, so that here and there it is possible 
to make observations. 
Along this part of the coast, grass, moss, and leaves are very 
frequently incrusted with carbonate of lime deposited by numerous 
land-springs, and probably derived from the white chalk which, as 
outlying masses, is here seen at intervals overlying the Greensand. 
The most westerly of these outliers, visible from the beach, occurs 
immediately east of Weston-Mouth. 
The fact that the gypsiferous marls occuj^y cliffs which are 
crowned with chalk suggests the question, " Did water charged 
with sulphuric acid, derived perhaps mediately from decomposing 
vegetable matter, transmute the carbonate of lime of the chalk 
into sulphate of lime, and thus furnish the material of the veins of 
selenite ? " Could we reply affirmatively, we should know that the 
veins are more modern not only than the Trias and even the chalk, 
but than the elevation of the latter (a deep sea formation) above 
the sea level. Such a reply, however, would introduce sundry 
other questions : — First, Why does not selenite occur west of Sal- 
combe-Mouth, since it is certain that chalk once extended as far in 
that direction as the High Peake, at least ? Second, Did chalk or 
some other form of carbonate of lime once overlie the widely- 
