THE GEOLOGICAL AGE OF CENTRAL AND WEST CORNWALL. 167 



Polperro and Lantivet Bay, Upper Silurian rocks at Fowey, 

 thence to the Gribben and in the cliffs as- far as the Black- 

 head, and Lower Silurian at Gorran Haven, Caerhayes, and 

 and Gerrans Bay.''— Trans. H.G.S.C, Vol. VII, p. 17. We 

 believe that Mr. Peach has never seen the rocks since these 

 words were printed, but in course of conversation with one of 

 us in 1880, he reiterated his former conviction in the strongest 

 possible manner.* This testimony of Mr. Peach is borne out in 

 a remarkable manner by his fellow- worker, the veteran 

 naturalist, Mr, K. Q. Couch, who wrote in 1846,f "I may again 

 repeat my belief that Cornwall will be found to occupy a place 

 among the lower beds of the Devonian and the adjoining 

 Silurian series ;" and also in 1850, "The results thus obtained 

 from the shells run parallel to those from the fish-beds ; the 

 eastern portions coinciding with the Lower Devonian beds, 

 while the western gradually slide into those products which are 

 indicative of the Upper, and of the middle and upper portions 

 of the Lower Silurian rocks." Li the same report (Trans. 

 R.G.8.C., 1850) he refers to the occvirrence of Graptolites "W. 

 of St. Austell," — to their determination by Prof. Forbes and Sir 

 Roderick Murchison — and to the additional support thus given to 

 the theory that these beds are of Ludlow age. In this connection 

 we must not onait to mention the opinion of Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, as expressed in his letter to Sir Charles Lemon, 

 {Trar.s. R.G.S.C., 18-^6) and in his address to the Geological 

 Section of the British Association, in 1847, in which he said: 

 "the fish- remains of Cornwall appear to belong to the Upper 

 Silurian," Rep. Brit. Assoc. Cork, 1847. This statement he 

 made from his own knowledge, and also on the authority of Sir 

 P. Egerton, — one of the greatest fossil ichthyologists of his day, 

 — who, after describing in detail the various forms then known, 

 wrote : " From the general appearance of the collection I should 

 say they differ from any Old Red or Devonian fishes I have 

 ever seen," V. Trans. R.G.S.C, Vol. VI, p. 320, 1846. 



* Another local geologist, well acquainted with the county— Mr. S. K. 

 Pattison, F.G.S. — finds a similar succession on the north coast. "The geological 

 traveller down the north coast of Cornwall in search of the Silurian system, may 

 discover himself within it because surrounded by its fossils, but he will have much 

 difficulty in giving a good account of how he got there." Trans. H.G.l^.C., Vol. 



vn,v.'5-i. 



t Trans. R.G.S.C, Vol. VI, p. '270. 



