72 Mr. Brockbank on 



which consist of red sandstones with courses of red shales, 

 all perfectly comformable to the underlying Permians, there 

 being a regular transition, or passage, into these, from the 

 Middle Permians just described. (These are the beds 

 which are to be relegated to the Trias, unless we can prove 

 them to be Permian — and this, I think, we shall be able to do.) 

 " In all situations," say Messrs. Murchison and Hark- 

 ness, "where we have examined them, whether in Westmor- 

 land, the east of Cumberland, or on the north portion of St. 

 Bees Head, where they are largely and clearly displayed, 

 they exhibit not only a perfect conformity to the middle 

 Permian strata, on which they rest, but also an intimate 

 connexion with them. Whatever may be the angle of 

 inclination of the one is always that of the other, and 

 nowhere is there to be seen a trace of erosion on the upper 

 parts of the supporting strata, from which a separation might 

 be inferred, such as would be expected between rocks of 

 palaeozoic age, and others of a mesozoic date. We have, 

 therefore, no hesitation in expressing our conviction that 

 these sandstones of St. Bees Head and Corby must be 

 removed from the New Red or Trias, with which they have 

 hitherto been grouped, and viewed as the upper zone of the 

 Permian Group." 



• 



The Hilton Plant Beds. 



The special object of my visit to the Hilton section was 

 with the upper portion of it, known as the St. Bees Sand- 

 stone, or Upper Permian ; and I wished to make myself 

 fully acquainted therewith, because of its bearing upon the 

 similar group of rocks in West Cumberland. I examined 

 the whole section of Hilton Beck, but will confine my 

 remarks to its upper portion. 



The plant beds occur at Ashgill, about a mile below 

 the village of Hilton. The section here is well known 

 geologists, being the only locality hitherto known in the 



