11 
beneath the Sandstones by the anglicised name Bunter Marls, 
seeing that they correspond in both lithological character and 
geological position to the Bunter Schiefer of Germany. 
Against the employment of the name Bunter for this group at 
all, it may be urged that the characteristic feature whence the 
name Bunter was derived has not been referred to. That is true, 
for the St. Bees Sandstone in Ravenbeck is tolerably uniform in 
character so far as colour is concerned; but in the areas to the 
south of that, as for example, around Langwathby,” the variegated 
character of the lower beds of the St. Bees Sandstone is so strongly 
marked a feature that many large quarries of otherwise-good 
building stone are rendered almost valueless on account of the 
extensive discolouration blotches by which so much of the stone is 
disfigured. Travellers to Carlisle by the Midland Railway may 
see numerous examples of this feature, even without leaving the 
train. It is not a little significant that this variegation should be 
most pronounced on the very horizon where the Lower Mottled 
might be expected to occur, on the assumption that we are dealing 
with the Bunter Sandstone. 
LOCAL DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE BUNTER MARLS 
AND THE STRATA BELOW. 
The next point to consider is the relation of the Bunter Marls 
to the beds below. On account of the occurrence of gypsum on 
various horizons near the base of the Bunter Marls sections have 
been exposed, in one locality or another, on many occasions. In 
addition to these there are some few natural exposures shewing 
the junction of the Bunter Marls with the beds below. These 
may now be noticed in detail. In the River Eden at Kirkby 
Stephen the Marls lie directly upon the Brockram; at Hartley, 
within a mile of the last locality, a remnant of the Plant Beds 
- occurs below them. ‘Two miles further north, in the River Bela, 
the Magnesian Limestone is well developed, being fully twenty 
feet in thickness, and of typical character. The Plant Beds 
are also well developed in this section, being nearly eighty 
* More generally known by its old name Langanby. 
