502 G. H. Morton — The Bunter and Keuper near Liverpool. 



to denudation during the deposition of the Bunter, as some of the 

 angular fragments of grit and sandstone seem to have been derived 

 from those formations. 



The pebbles of the Keuper are similar to those of the Bunter 

 formation, but the number and variety are much less. They do not 

 seem to have been derived from the Bunter, and it is not likely that 

 it was exposed to denudation at the time, so that the probability is 

 that they came from the same source when the supply had nearly 

 dwindled away and was almost limited to those of light-coloured 

 quartzites. 



A typical collection of the pebbles, including those from both the 

 Bunter and the Keuper, was sent to Prof. Bonney who minutely 

 examined and kindly sent me the following report thereon : — 



"Many of the hard quartzites and qnartzose rock (balleflintas, 

 grits of more than one type — sometimes felspathic) are identical 

 with those which we find in Staffordshire. The igneous rocks 

 (felstones chiefly) are less well preserved and seemingly less 

 numerous, but I think I may say that they present a general 

 resemblance to some of those found in that district. I only observe 

 one piece which resembles ' Torridon sandstone,' and it is so small 

 that I should not like, without microscopical examination, to assert 

 positively that it might not be a fine-grained granite. One of the 

 peculiarities of this grit found in Staffordshire is the difficulty which 

 not unfrequently occurs in distinguishing it macroscopically from 

 granite. But I have no hesitation in saying that your specimens, 

 on the whole, appear to have been derived from the same sources as 

 those we find in the Staffordshire district, only they are smaller and 

 perhaps not quite so well rounded— clearly the Liverpool region was 

 out of the course of the strongest currents. 



" At first sight it seems strange that the Bunter in the Cheshire- 

 Lancashire region should be thicker, but of finer material than in 

 the Central Midland district. But it seems to be quite possible 

 that, in the case of strata of fluviatile origin, the deposits, though of 

 coarser material, may be thinner in the line of the stronger currents, 

 because these deposits may be less continuous — just as a river keeps 

 open its channel while raising the land on either side. If we assume 

 a southern origin for the pebbles, we still have the difficulty of the 

 greater thickness of the beds further from the source. One thing 

 cannot be overlooked in speculations, viz. that quartzite pebbles, 

 identical with those in Staffordshire, occur plentifully in the Upper 

 Palaeozoics of Southern Scotland. Similar felstones occur, but 1 can 

 say no more because, when last I saw these Scotch Pebble-beds, I was 

 not paying any particular attention to the matter." 



Prof. E. Hull. P.E.S., some years ago, was of opinion that the 

 quartzite pebbles of the Bunter were derived from those of the Old 

 Eed Conglomerate of Scotland, and the denuded tracts bordering 

 the German Ocean. 1 More recently, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 attributed their source to the quartzite of Koss-shire about Loch 

 Maree, and minutely described the varieties that occur in that 

 1 " Triassic and Permian of the Midland Counties," p. 60 (1869). 



