TRIAS. 239 



from rocks destroyed in the formation of the English Channel/ 

 (See p. 76.) Among the fossils there are Fucoids, Mollusca, and 

 Trilobites. Most of the species are Devonian ; and they include 

 Rhy7icho7iella inaurita, Spirifera Verneuilii, Orthis Budla'ghensis, 

 Lingida Hawkei, L. Lestieuri, Modiolopsis, Pterinea, Homalo7iotus, 

 Phacops, etc. ; these are enclosed in the pebbles. 



Mr. Godwin-Austen has shown that the western portion of the 

 English Channel area was occupied during several distinct geo- 

 logical periods by a mass of crystalline and old Palaeozoic rocks, and 

 he thought shore-ice might have transported the pebbles. Con- 

 sidering their hard nature, it seems doubtful whether they were 

 shaped in Triassic times. Such smooth pebbles of grit or 

 quartzite are rarely found in the Red Conglomerates and 

 breccias bordering the older rocks ; hence the idea occurs that 

 the Budleigh pebbles may have been derived from some old 

 (Carboniferous ?) conglomerate. The same remark, however, 

 would apply to the Bunter Pebble-beds, which in some respects 

 appear to be homotaxial. (See p. 222.) It is thus a significant 

 fact, when looked at in a large way, that the coarser materials 

 are nearer the old Palaeozoic land-margin, as is the case with the 

 Dolomitic Conglomerate of the Mendip Hills, Gloucestershire and 

 Glamorganshire. 



The former extent of the Triassic rocks in Devonshire is a 

 difficult subject.'^ We find traces of Red rocks in Start Bay, 

 Bigbury Bay, and even on the shores of Barnstaple Bay, and we 

 find long spurs of Red rocks running into the heart of the 

 county west of Tiverton and Crediton, and an outlier at Hather- 

 leigh. Denudation has, however, been so complete that we have 

 no positive evidences of overlap by the higher New Red beds 

 in that region. The character of the Breccia itself is due to 

 the nature of the bordering rocks which formed the old margin 

 of the lacustrine area, and which consisted most largely of slates ; 

 and its thickness may be due to its having been banked up 

 against the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks. Therefore no 

 conclusions as to its age can be drawn from its lithological 

 characters. Sir Roderick Murchison considered it to be Permian, 

 agreeing with Conybeare and Buckland, who identified the 

 Heavitree Breccia with the Roth-liegende of the Germans. •' It 

 may indeed be difficult to disprove this if we regard the Permian 

 and Trias as one system ; and therefore, as the red rocks of 

 Devonshire form a connected series, the use of the term New Red 

 or Poikilitic Series may be preferable to that of Trias. The lower 

 beds have indeed been classed as Bunter, while the upper are 



1 Salter, G. Mag. 1864, p. 6 ; Vicary, Q. J. xx. 283, 286 ; T. Davidson, Q. J. 

 xxvi. 70 ; Devonian Brachiopoda (Palfeontograph. See.) vol. iv., Notes by H. J. 

 Carter, p. 317 ; A. W. Edgell, Q. J. xxx. 45 ; W. Pengelly, G. Mag. 1878, p. 

 238 ; Hicks, Q. J. xxx. 49 ; Godwin- Austen, Q. J. xii. 45 ; xxx. 49. 



^ See W. Pengelly, Trans. Devon Assoc. 1866. 



^ Silurian System, p. 67 ; Siluria, edit. 5, p. 333 ; Sedgwick, T. G. S. (2), iv. 

 400, 403. 



