602 
water is abstracted from the upper lakes is taken away from the 
Niagara. 
Feb. 2nd.— Sketch of the Geology of the South of Westmore- 
land.” By Daniel Sharpe, Esq., F.G.S. 
The object of this communication, the author says, is to describe 
the Silurian rocks and the old red sandstone of the south of West- 
moreland, to define approximatively their geographical boundaries, 
and to compare their lithological structure and stratigraphical phe- 
nomena with the equivalent formations previously noticed in other 
parts of the kingdom. 
The author, in alluding to the published labours of those who 
preceded him in the same district, mentions the memoir of Mr. J. 
Phillips on a group of slate rocks between the Lune and Wharf*, | 
Prof. Sedgwick’s on the Cumbrian mountains}, Mr. J. G. Mar- 
shall’s on a section between the Shap granite and Casterton Fell{, 
and Prof. Sedgwick’s Geological Map of Westmoreland; also the 
abstract of his memoirs on the English stratified rocks inferior to 
the old red sandstone §. 
The different formations are described under the heads of,— 
1. Coniston Limestone; 2. Blue Flagstone Rock; 3. Windermere 
Rocks ; 4. Ludlow Rocks; and 5. Old Red Sandstone. - 
1. Coniston Limestone.—This calcareous band, which has been 
laid dowr in great detail by Prof. Sedgwick, was adopted by Mr. 
Sharpe as the base of his inquiries. It usually rests upon dark 
brown shale, and consists, in its lowest part, of a hard, dark blue, slaty 
limestone, from fifty to sixty feet thick at Low Wood; and in the 
upper, of thin beds of dark brown shale, alternating with others of 
blue limestone, which gradually diminish in thickness, and totally 
disappear towards the top of the formation. The bottom bed of 
limestone contains very few organic remains, but the shales and 
thinner calcareous bands abound with casts. A list of fossils given 
by the author includes fifteen Silurian species, seven of. which be- 
long to the iower Silurian rocks of Mr. Murchison; and the author 
places the Coniston limestone and associated shales on the parallel 
of that division of the Silurian system, but without attempting to 
define its exact relative position. Mr. Marshall, on the authority of 
Mr. J. Sowerby, places the Coniston limestone on the parallel of 
the Caradoc limestone. An exact account of the strike and dip of 
the rock, the author says, will be found in Prof. Sedgwick’s memoir, 
but the general bearing of the strike of the beds throughout the 
western part of their course is stated to be north-east, though on 
appreaching Shap more nearly east and west; and the ordinary dip 
is stated to be south-east, with an inclination rarely less than 30°, ~ 
and frequently exceeding 60°. 
* Geol. Trans., 2nd Series, vol. iii. part i. p. 1, 1829. 
t Ibid, vol. iv. parti. p. 47, 1835. 
t Proceedings of British Association for 1889. 
§ Proceedings, vol. ii. p. 675; Atheneum, No. 736; Proceedings, vol. 
iil. p. 541, 
