y6 The Permians of the N. W. of England. 



Prof. H. A. Nicholson published in 1868 an interesting 

 essay on the Geology of Cumberland and Westmorland, 

 in which he describes the upper part of the Hilton 

 Beck section as follows : — " The Magnesian breccias 

 are conformably succeeded at Ashbank by the Middle 

 Permians, or Hilton Shales, consisting of thin bedded 

 sandstones of various colours, with thin courses of marly 

 shales and impure Magnesian limestones, the two former 

 containing numerous remains of plants. They are sur- 

 mounted by sandstones overlaid by a single stratum of 

 impure limestone about 6ft. in thickness, and apparently 

 without fossils. To this succeeds a mass of red laminated 

 clays of no great thickness, forming the highest member of 

 the middle Permians. The total thickness of the middle 

 Permians, as exhibited at Hilton Beck, is from 1 20 to 1 50 feet. 

 The Hilton shales are directly succeeded by the upper 

 Permians, which extend up the stream as far as the Hilton 

 Smelt Mill, where they are cut off by the Pennine fault, 

 and are brought abruptly against the Skiddaw slates, which 

 form the base of Roman Fell. They consist of fine grained 

 dark red sandstone, seldom, if ever, false bedded, often 

 beautifully ripple marked, and having intercalated with 

 them beds of white sandstone and way boards of red shale — 

 the whole attaining a thickness of 700ft." 



To this excellent description we can now add that the 

 white sandstones contain Permian plant remains. Prof. 

 Nicholson writes me, " You are quite right in thinking that 

 I never discovered any plant beds in the Hilton section 

 above the red marls, or rather above the Magnesian lime- 

 stone. Your discovery that plant beds occur higher up in 

 the section, and that the remains of these have the general 

 ' facies ' of the Ashfield beds below is a very important one, 

 and ought to be conclusive, it seems to me, as to the 

 Permian acre of the series throughout." 



