170 D)\ Alexander Irving — The Trias of Devonshire. 



few feet which Mr. Somervail's computation requires in a distance 

 of less than half a mile, unless we assumed some great unconformity 

 and overlap, of wliicli there is no evidence so far as I know. 



Mr. Somervail's statement (p. 461) "FromOtterton Vo'n\i eastwards- 

 these [the Otterton] breccias are overlain by a series of red sand- 

 stones," etc., is misleading. No such succession exists, since from 

 Otterton Point the coast trends nearly due nortJi, and therefore nearly 

 along the line of strike of the beds. To truly estimate the thickness 

 of that series — in which 1 have definitely recognised (paper C) the 

 basement beds of the Keuper, with the Otterton breccia marking 

 their downward limit — we must take a section due toest from the 

 Chit Roclc faidt to the Otter, a distance of only two miles, instead 

 of that of four or five miles along the line of coast. No one has 

 thought of applying (as he seems to suppose ') " the term breccia " 

 to these sandstones, but near their base, in sections described by me 

 in the Otter Valley (paper A, p. 153, and paper C, pp. 80, 81), they 

 have the character, not of breccias, but of " brecciated sandstones," 

 the contained fragments being sparsely scattered in the rock, while 

 even the basal breccia itself is here and there repeated in them for 

 a short distance in the upward succession. I have also noted 

 (paper A, p. 149) that on the eastern escarpment of the Sid (above 

 the breccia at that place) the same current-bedded sandstones (which 

 in paper A were en-oneously referred to the Bunter, but in paper C 

 were referred to the Keuper basement beds) are " slightly brecciated," 

 and contain subordinate "current-bedded breccias in a marly matrix, 

 the contained fragments being mostly of indurated red marl." ^ 

 These fragments may with little doubt be considered as derived 

 from the red marls of the Permian ; and their presence (if that 

 derivation be admitted) tends to emphasize the stratigraphical break, 

 as I have maintained in my papers as existing below the great 

 pebble-bed, which runs inland from Budleigh Salterton, and con- 

 stitutes the terrain of the Aylesbere Hills. 



It is not clear to my mind what Mr. Somervail may mean when 

 he says (next paragraph), "The effect of the fault at the Chit rock 

 is to bring up .... the higher portion of these current-bedded 

 sandstones." If he means that the Chit liock is a portion of them, 

 both Hull and I are at direct issue with him ; if he does not mean 

 that, it is difficult to see the logical force of the remark. Of course, 

 the beds on the east of the Sid are " higher in the series " than those 

 of the Chit Rock, according to the recognised succession of the 

 Bunter and Keuper everywhere. At the bottom of p. 461 he seems 

 to dogmatise as to the thickness of the sandstones east of the Sid, 

 without, so far as I can see, any data as to the limit of their down- 

 ward extension. Perhaps it may be useful to append here the 



1 Had he weighed the meaning of the footnote to p. 153 of paper A, he might 

 have seen that it was intended to suggest an explanation of the ' ' nobbly and 

 concretionary structure " of which he makes mention. I observed it as a later 

 development on the face of the cliff (":'). Those familiar with the splendid natural 

 sections of the Ilimlack Stone (Notts) ^\ill see the force of this all the better. 



* From my notebook. 



