OF THE NORTH- WEST OF ENGLAND. 266 



its base it graduates into a finely laminated red marl. Then 

 come coal-measures, consisting of shales and fine grits, dip- 

 ping to the south-west at an angle of 35°. Many attempts 

 to work coals appear to have been made here in these strata, 

 but no seams worth working appear to have been met with. 

 Black curly shales like limestone shales then occur, lying 

 nearly level. After going up the hill the third of a mile, 

 over ground covered up, we come to the mountain limestone 

 of Towscar, part of Thornton Fells, which appears to dip to 

 the north-east at an angle of 39°. 



Conclusion. 



After having given the foregoing particulars of the permian 

 deposits of the north-west of Elngland, which are by no means 

 80 ample and satisfactory as I could have wished, I shall con- 

 clude by presenting a short summary of them. The beds, 

 with their respective greatest thicknesses, will be found to 

 occur in the following (descending) order : — 



Feet. 



1. Red marls with gypsum in the north, and thin beds and 



nodules of limestone in the south of the district 300* 



2. Magnesian limestone, resembling the Yorkshire deposit... 10 



3. Conglomerate 360 



4. Lower new red sandstone, of a soft and crumbling 



character 500 



1160 



Under these beds the purple-coloured sandstone of White- 

 haven occurs. This rock I am inclined to class with the 

 coal-measures, rather than include it with the true permian 

 beds. Without, however, including this rock, it will be seen 



• I take this thickness from the Scarisbrick section, which I assume to be 

 permian, and not the upper red marls of the trias. 



2 L 



