OF THE NORTH-WEST OF ENGLAND, 239 



as both are lying on the pit bank mixed together, I will not 

 undertake to speak positively. If they belong to the fonner, 

 they are the only fossil plants that have as yet, to my 

 knowledge, been found in the permian beds of the north- 

 west of England. These beds dip a little east-of-south, at an 

 angle of about 8°, and the underlying coals dip nearly south, 

 at an angle of 14°. 



Atherton Section. 



N.N.E. SAW. 



Middle coal-field. 4 5 



This section is near Leigh, and is exposed in the smalt 

 brook course which enters the land, formerly part of Atherton 

 Park, from the north. On the banks of this stream, up to a 

 little past the small bridge, the upper new red sandstone 

 appears dipping at an angle of about 8° to 10° to the south. 

 It is then seen gradually passing first into beds of red marl, 

 containing thin bands of hard gritstone, and afterwards into 

 deposits of red laminated marls containing numerous beds of 

 limestone. The largest of these is about 1ft. 8in. in thick- 

 ness, and there are several beds of from two to four inches, 

 besides others of less dimensions. All these are full of fossils 

 of the genera Schizodus, Bakevellia, Turbo, and Tragos, 

 but apparently contain little or no magnesia in their com- 

 position. 



The dip of the strata is to the south, at an angle nearly 

 similar to that of the upper new red sandstone above alluded 

 to. In proceeding up the brook-course towards the mill, 

 however, their dip becomes greater, reaching to an angle ot 

 16°, and is to the south-west instead of the south. They are 

 succeeded by nodules of irony limestone of a purpleish colour, 

 containing sparry matter, and then by the lower new red sand- 

 stone, about seven yards in thickness. This latter rock dips 



