124 DEVONIAN. 



LOWER DEVONIAN. 



Foreland Sandstones. 



The term Foreland Sandstone was applied to these beds by 

 the Rev. D. Williams ; ' hence the term Foreland Group is some- 

 times used. The term Lynton (or Linton) group was used by 

 John Phillips (18+1). 



The Foreland or Lynton Sandstones comprise hard purple, buff, 

 red and grey fine-grained and flaggy grits, which are in places 

 quartzose and slightly conglomeratic, and sometimes contain slaty 

 beds. Plant-remains have been observed by Mr. Godwin-Austen, 

 who spoke of the group as the Countesbury Series, comparing it 

 with the Lower Old Red Sandstone of South Wales, etc.- 



The base of this group is not seen in North Devon, and its 

 thickness cannot therefore be estimated. But ls\x. A. Champer- 

 nowne suggested to me that the beds may be the same as the 

 Hangman Grits, repeated by a fault ; while Sedgwick and I\Iur- 

 chison regarded these beds as identical.* For although seen in 

 proximity to the Lynton Slates, the Foreland Sandstones have 

 never actually been traced beneath them, except in situations 

 which may be explained by inversion, combined with overthrust 

 faulting. 



The Foreland Sandstones are developed in the fine cliffs at the 

 Foreland and at Countesbury, east of Lynton, at Care, Porlock, 

 Grabbist Hill, and North Hill, near ]Minehead, and probably at the 

 northern end of the Quantock Hills. No equivalent of these Sand- 

 stones has been met with in South Devon, unless they be same 

 as the Hangman Grits. 



Lynton Slates. 



The term Lynton Slates was used by the Rev. D. Williams. 

 This division consists of grey gritty shales, schists, and even- 

 bedded grits, about 1500 feet in thickness. 



The fossils include Choiietes Hardrensis, Orthis arciiata, 0. granulosa, 

 Spirifera IcEvicosta, S. hysterica, Megalodon cticullatum, Belleropho7i 

 slriatus, Fenestella antiqua, Favosites cervicornis, Actinocrinus tenui- 

 striatus, etc. 



Mr. Etheridge has separated the upper part of the Lynton Slates 

 (in ascending order) into the beds of the Valley of Rocks, the 

 Lee Beds (from Lee, a hamlet west of Linton), and the Woodabay 

 Beds.^ 



^ Proc. G. S. iii. 116. See also T. Weaver, IbiJ. ii. 589. 

 2 Q.J. xxii. 3. 



* T.G. S. (2), V. plate li. See also Symonds, Records of the Rocks, p. 266. 



* Manual of Geology, 1885, p. 173. 



