2 Rev. J. Clifton Ward— Geology of the Isle of Man. 
Flag Series. Moreover, No. 4 is succeeded conformably by the 
Volcanic Series of Cumberland, but in the south-western corner of 
the Lake District the slates of this division are absent, and the 
volcanic ashes immediately succeed the grit, and are conglomeratic 
in character, rounded pebbles and blocks of the grit being bedded 
with the ashy material. 
Trusting that further light might be thrown on these subdivisions 
by an examination of the Skiddaw Slates of the Isle of Man, I began 
by seeking the uppermost beds described by Profs. Harkness and 
Nicholson as conformably underlying volcanic ash-beds occurring at 
Douglas and Clay Heads. But I have not been able to satisfy myself 
that there are any volcanic beds answering in age to those of the 
Lake District, and on writing to Prof. Nicholson to inquire more 
particularly as to the ashy members of Douglas Head and Clay 
Head, he replies, “So far as my own imperfect recollection serves, 
it is quite possible that we may have mistaken light-coloured gritty 
bands in the Skiddaw Slates for ashes.” I think that this must 
have been the case, and that for two reasons. In the first place, 
I could find no beds with decided ashy characters, but the sandy 
and gritty characters prevail in the localities named. In the 
second, at both places the dip is to the W.N.W., and any beds 
occurring at either Head must, if they be conformable, underlie 
that portion of the Skiddaw Series. In the case of the Douglas Head 
rocks, the dip, though very high—sometimes nearly vertical—is 
persistently westwards for three-quarters of a mile, from behind the 
Dock to the Head itself, and therefore any conformable volcanic 
rocks occurring at Douglas Head would underlie a great thickness of 
the Skiddaw group. After having examined the fine cliff-sections 
all round the island more or less carefully, and having traversed the 
mountain groups in several directions, I have failed to find any 
portion of the Volcanic Series of Cumberland represented. At the 
same time it might be rash to say that none of the thick flagey and 
gritty-looking beds so largely developed have mingled with them 
fine ashy material; this may still be the case, and yet the whole 
belong to the series of marine sedimentary deposits known as the 
Skiddaw Slate group. | 
Being disappointed in obtaining a defined upper limit to the slaty | 
series, my next object was to light upon some defined band of sand- 
stone or grit which could be-traced across the island, and thus give 
an horizon. I hoped, indeed, to meet with my Skiddaw or Arenig | 
grit. It is necessary to state that all the south-eastern portion of | 
the island from Port St. Mary north-eastwards to the central valley 
between Crosby and Douglas, is for the most part devoid of good | 
sections, except along the coast-line; also that large portions of the | 
mountain area north of the central valley are very sectionless, great | 
spreads of drift sometimes sweeping up the several valleys, and | 
oftentimes the mountain slopes being uninterruptedly grassy. 
Upon the small map (Fig. 1) I have marked the general direction | 
of the dips observed; these are for the most part at a considerable | 
angle, and often nearly vertical. 
