382 Geological Society. 



It was shown that the Lower Permian beds are scarcely repre- 

 sented in Lancashire and North Cheshire, but that they attain their 

 greatest development (1800 feet) along a band of country stretching- 

 west and east from Salop to Warwickshire, and the author traced 

 the margin of the basin in which they were formed, along the west, 

 north, and east. The local origin of these Permian beds, as having 

 been derived from the Old Red and Silurian lands by which they 

 were surrounded, was insisted upon, and especially as agreeing with 

 the observations of Murchison, Ramsay, and other authors. 



As contrasted with this local origin of the Lower Permian Rocks 

 of Central England, it was shown that the sedimentary materials of 

 which the Triassic Rocks are formed must have been drifted by an 

 ancient oceanic current from a continent or large tract of land 

 occupying the position of the North Atlantic, and that the sediment 

 was spread over the plains of England as long as it was mecha- 

 nically suspended. The increasing distance towards the south-east 

 from the source of supply, accounted for the tailing-out of the se- 

 diment. During the IBunter Sandstone period, this sediment was 

 drifted through the channel formed by the great headlands of West- 

 moreland and North Wales ; but, as the whole area was gradually 

 sinking (with occasional interruptions) during the periods of the 

 Upper Trias and succeeding formations, the Welsh and Cumbrian 

 mountains must have been nearly covered by sea at the close of the 

 Liassic period. 



The author adduced the following reasons for considering that the 

 Bunter Sandstone of England formed dry land during the deposi- 

 tion of the Muschelkalk of Germany : — 



1st. That the Lower Keuper Sandstone rests on an eroded surface 

 of the Bunter ; 2nd, that the basement-bed of the Keuper is fre- 

 quently a breccia or shingle-beach ; and 3rd, that there is a local 

 unconformity observable in Stafford, Leicester, and Lancashire 

 between these formations. 



The author described the distribution of the quartzose conglo- 

 merates which form the middle division of the Bunter, and con- 

 siders it probable that they are the reconstructed materials of the 

 Old Red Conglomerate of Scotland. 



The probable extension of coal-measures from the coal-fields of 

 England to those of Belgium and France was considered, as also 

 the bearing of the whole subject on Mr. Godwin-Austen's theory 

 of the extension of coal-measures under the chalk of the Thames 

 Valley ; and it was inferred that coal-measures might possibly be 

 found at not unapproachable depths under parts of Oxford and 

 Northamptonshire. It was also shown that, from indications pre- 

 sented by the coal-formation at the southern borders of the Stafford- 

 shire and Warwickshire coal-field, there was reason to suspect that 

 the formation becomes attenuated and less productive of valuable 

 coal-beds in its extension towards the south-eastern districts. 



