228 MR. E. W. BINNEY ON THE PERMIAN BEDS 



deposit is but a thin band, it varies so much in its character 

 from all the permian beds either above or below it, in which I 

 have never yet been able to detect portions of rolled mineral 

 matter of the size of a pea, that I think it of considerable im- 

 portance, and worthy of notice, especially as the conglomerate 

 bed will be found to be of such great thickness as we proceed 

 northwards. The red clays under, unlike the red marls above 

 it, do not effervesce when treated with acids. They apparently 

 pass into the Vauxhall sandstone, so well known as an excel- 

 lent moulding sand, which I have roughly estimated at 320 

 feet in thickness; but still, although this conglomerate and 

 its underlying marls seem to graduate into the deposits lying 

 above and below them, I think it more convenient to class 

 them by themselves. 



The lower new red sandstone is composed of a dark red 

 sand, variegated by patches of a yellowish drab colour. The 

 upper part of it is much used for the purpose of iron moulding, 

 but the lower portion is not so well adapted for such use, 

 owing to nodules of iron occurring in it. Its grains of sand 

 are well rounded, and are composed chiefly of white quartz, 

 with some pieces of jasper, all coloured red by a slight coating 

 of sesquioxide of iron — so uniform in size are the grains, that 

 anything approaching a pebble has never, to my knowledge, 

 been found in the rock. Its thickness has never been proved 

 by absolute admeasurement, but it must be by my estimate 

 near 320 feet. Its main dip is to the south-west at an angle 

 of from 16 to 18°, but it has also a nearly equal inclination 

 towards the west-north-west. 



The upper part of the rock bears evident marks of erosion 

 by the water from which the " till " was deposited. In some 

 places holes two or three feet deep, called by the workmen 

 "posts," are found in the sandstone filled with till, while, at 

 other places, the surface of the rock is only slightly marked 

 or scooped out. 



The coal-measures upon which the rock lies consist of a bed 



