Supposed Permian Beds at PortsJcewet. By Robeet Etheridge, 

 Esq., E.E.S.E., E.G.S., H.M. Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain. 



It will be remembered, that at the third meeting of the 

 Cotteswold Club, on the 17th July, at Stanton, a short notice 

 by J. Jones, Esq., was communicated to the members, drawing 

 their attention to the report and general belief, that at the New 

 Passage, or at the Portskewet junction of the South Wales and 

 Bristol Railway, the Permian beds were exhibited, and in 

 a somewhat remarkable manner and condition. It was also 

 stated that organic remains of that age had been found, 

 and that numerously so. To test this belief, and if possible to 

 definitely settle the question, your President, Sir William 

 Guise, and myself, on our return from the meeting of the club 

 at Southerndown and Dunraven, spent some time in examining 

 the beds and strata in question. 



I now briefly^ lay before the club the result of that investigation, 

 reserving for a future paper or notice in the Proceedings of the 

 Ciub any longer account of the phj^sical structure and correlation 

 of the beds supposed to be Permian. 



The beds exposed in the cliifs overhanging the Severn at the 

 New Passage, and also in the railway cutting at Portskewet 

 Station, belong decidedly to the Keuper (the New Red Marls;) 

 but whether higher in the series than the place of the Gypseous 

 Marls, is not clear, owing to the indefinite conditions of their 

 physical structure, to their similarity throughout in detached 

 sections, and to the absence of the Gypsum bands. I am, 

 however, disposed to believe that the Yellow Magnesian Marls 

 that cap the Red series {i.e. locally) are the equivalents of the 



1 A longer notice on further enquiry »111 be given. 



I 



