———— ee ee eS 
5 
shore conditions prevailed, right up to Jurassic times. So the 
dolomitic conglomerate of the Bristol district may be the chrono- 
logical equivalent of any part of 4 or 5, or may even be of later 
date ; while in the Devonshire area, and again in Westmorland, 
and elsewhere, a rock absolutely undistinguishable from it can be 
shown to be of much older date. It is merely a question of local 
conditions, and tells us nothing more than that the rock is of age 
later than the Carboniferous and older than the Rheetic rocks. 
The diagram on Plate 2 will serve to. shew how a dolomitic conglom- 
erate may be at one part contemporaneous with the Magnesian 
Limestone, at another with the very topmost beds, or may belong 
to any other horizon. As a matter of fact this is what actually 
happens at many places in both Cumberland and Westmorland. 
HISTORY OF OPINIONS UPON THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE 
CUMBERLAND NEW RED SERIES. 
If a competent observer were studying the Red Rocks of Cum- 
berland without allowing -himself to be influenced by preconceived 
notions, he would almost certainly come to the conclusion that 
they formed one continuous series, which he would unhesitatingly 
refer to the Trias, if the order of his examination of the rocks 
happened to be from the highest strata downwards, and were con- 
fined to areas where the Magnesian Limestone was not seen. He 
would find abundant justification for this view in the fact that the 
sandstones denoted by the figure 1 in the sections here given (that 
is to say the Penrith Sandstone) afford a considerable variety of 
foot-prints of air-breathing vertebrates—probably those of Laby- 
rinthodontia, their allies the Anomodontia, and many kangeroo-like 
saurians as well. Moreover, the Penrith Sandstone, lithologically, 
is wonderfully like some parts of the Trias. 
If, on the other hand, his examination happened to be made 
where the Magnesian Limestone is in force, as it is between 
Appleby and Kirkby Stephen, then, failing to discover any signs 
of a break above that well-marked datum, he would be equally 
ready to class all he saw there as Permian. As it happens that the » 
upper beds are wanting all over the part where the Magnesian 
