metamorphic. Besides the great main deposit, this rock is 

 found at the south-west corner of Cumberland, where it forms 

 the mountain Blackcombe ; and also in the neighbourhood 

 of Shap. It has always been held to be destitute of fossil 

 remains, but we understand that these were discovered in it 

 by the late Mr. Ruthven, of Kendal, to whose practical know- 

 ledge of this branch of local science we are indebted for a 

 very valuable Geological Map of the District, to which we 

 gladly refer our readers. 



Overlying the Skiddaw Slate, we have the second, a still 

 more extensive division of the great slaty formations, called 

 Green Slate and Porphyry y, and forming, with the exception 

 of those mentioned, every mountain of importance in the 

 fell country. This vast group owes its formation to the 

 action of two opposite elements, fire and water, consisting 

 as it does, of Plutonic masses, of various structure, alter- 

 nated and interblended with large deposits of aqueous rock, 

 possessing more or less of the properties of slate. The pre- 

 vailing colour of this slate, when not affected by igneous 

 influences, is, as its name imports, chiefly a fine light green. 

 That after, and probably during its formation, it has under- 

 gone a succession of the most inconceivable convulsions is 

 evident, from the frequent distortion of its stratification, the 

 wild and rugged character of its crags and precipices, and 

 the altitude of some portions over others in the same vicinity. 

 Scafell Pikes, for instance, rising nearly three thousand feet 

 above the bed of Wastwater. It is also said to contain few 

 or no fossils, and abounds supereminently in beautiful and 

 valuable mineral productions, as will be shewn hereafter. 

 Besides the main deposit of the green slate to the south, a 

 considerable extent of it occupies the northern borders of 

 the older rock, lying between that and the Carboniferous 

 series. 



