566 Geological Society. 



slopes of the hills flanking the valley of Bovey, where it had not 

 been noticed by previous observers. The beds dip towards and 

 form the lining of the Bovey basin. They rest on new red sand- 

 stone, coal measures, limestone, slate, and perhaps granite, and, to 

 a certain extent, are composed of the debris of these formations. A 

 list of the fossils is given, and Mr. Austen states, that moUusca are 

 almost wanting on Little Haldon, and he therefore infers, that the 

 Haldon beds are of a more littoral nature than those of Blackdown. 

 The conchifera also occur^ in single valves, and broken, and appear 

 to have been drifted as well as water- worn. 



(c.) New Red Sandstone. — ^ITie subdivisions of this formation are 

 stated to present the following geographical distribution, proceeding 

 from east to west: 1. marls, with gypsum, as far as Sidmouth ; 2. 

 sandstone, from that town to a little beyond Dawlish ; 3. shingle and 

 conglomerate, to the western boundary of the formation, the pebbles 

 being derived from the adjacent older rocks, and increasing in size 

 towards the edge of the deposit. In some places, however, the shingle 

 is associated with finely- grained fissile sandstone. From this distri- 

 bution, the author infers, that the conglomerate marks the original 

 shore of the sea in which the new red system was deposited; the 

 sandstone, the finer detritus carried to a certain distance from it ; 

 and the marl, the mud diffused through the water, and conveyed to 

 a still greater distance*. The jointed structure is not very distinct, 

 but it may be traced even in the conglomerates ; and from the best 

 exhibited cases, the author concludes that the strata are divided into 

 octohedral masses. Vegetable remains are found near Sidmouth. 



(d.) Culmiferous or Carboniferous Series. — After alluding to the 

 rectification, in 1836, by Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison, of the 

 error in the geological position of this seriesf, Mr. Austen states that 

 it occupies, in South Devon, the whole of the valley between Great 

 Haldon and the extremity of Dartmoor. 



He subdivides the series as follows : — 



1st. Shales, which near the granite or trap, sometimes resemble 

 the older slates. 



2nd. Sandstones with beds of thick flagstone, as above Greyleigh 

 and Biddlecomb, and below Lewell House. 



3rd. Conglomerates, as at Ugbrook, the Orchard Well valley, and 

 above Ryder Farm. 



The limestone of Chudleigh is stated to rise through the culmi- 

 ferous strata N. of Ugbrook-park, and to the S.W. of the Bovey de- 

 posit, to form a continuous band. 



The mineral contents of the series are various. Tin and copper 

 occur beneath Ashburton Down and near Christow ; lead has been 

 found in the same parishes ; and iron ore is contained in large quan- 

 tities in the shale. t Where the rock approaches the granite, it is 



• [On this subject compare Mr. Brayley's paper on the consolidation of 

 the new red-sandstone forraation, Phil. Mag. and Annals, N. S. vol. vi, p. 71 : 

 see also Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. vii. p. 515, note. — Edit.] 



t [See Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. x. p. 388, and pres. vol. p. 510.] 

 + [See Mr. Kingston's paper, Phil. Mag. and Annals, vol. iii. p. 359.] 



