CiRC. No. 68 



which they are intersected is greatly due to the Unes of weakness 

 caused by the faults, the rocks in the valleys being precisely similar to 

 those occupying the hills above, and exhibiting no features rendering 

 them more liable to erosion. The Silurian rocks are brought to a 

 sudden termination by the great Pennine fault on the east, and abut 

 against the Carboniferous Limestone and Yoredale Rocks of Baugh 

 Fell and the hills east of Dent Valley ; on the west they are continuous 

 with the mountains of Westmorland. The hills owe much of their 

 roundness and smooth surface to glacial action. The steep slopes of 

 Howgill Fells behind Sedbergh are covered with glacial matter consist- 

 ing of a sandy clay full of scratched stones and boulders, through 

 which the mountain torrents have deeply carved their channels. 



The Silurian Rocks exposed in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Sedbergh are (a) the Coniston Limestone, (d) Coniston Flags, (c) Con- 

 iston Grits, (d) Bannisdale Slates. The Coniston Limestone (a) is 

 brought by a north and south fault into juxtaposition with the grits (c) 

 on the east side of Helm Knott. It consists of a hard blue crystalline 

 limestone with beds of dark blue close-grained shales and slates. The 

 limestone contains numerous fossils of the Wenlock types, of which it 

 is here the equivalent. Amongst others Leptena, Lingula, Orthis, 

 Trilobites, Favosites, etc. The limestone is exposed in Helm Gill and 

 Larly Beck near Sedbergh. The Coniston Flags (/;) may be seen at 

 Helm Knott in a small quarry on the north side of the Hill with fossil 

 Orthoceratites and Graptolites. They dip rapidly to the south-west, 

 and occur again in the bed of the River Dee in several places between 

 Dent and Sedbergh. They also occur in the River Rawthey where 

 they dip under the Coniston Grits and form the base of Howgill Fells. 

 The Coniston Grits (c) consist of tough grits and sandy slates, and 

 are between 3000 and 4000 feet in thickness. They are largely de- 

 veloped in Howgill Fells north of Sedbergh ; and Holme Fells, the 

 Riggs, and Helm Knott, south and south-east, are also composed of 

 them. They are thrown abruptly on their eastern side against the 

 mountain limestone by the great Pennine series of faults. The lowest 

 beds seen occur on the east side of Llelm Gill, which is the line of the 

 great fault separating the limestone from the shales and grits on the 

 opposite side of the watercourse, and beneath the moorland above 

 Helm Gill near Dent. The limestone is exposed where the course of 

 the stream has been lowered for the purpose of draining the land ad- 

 joining. The beds consist of dark-blue limestone and shale and dip 

 rapidly to the south-west, so that on descending the gill they are hid by 

 the overlying shales and grits. They are highly fossiliferous. The 

 Riggs are formed by an anticlinal of the Grits which are exposed in 

 several sections ; in one at Cragg's Hill Wood fossils are abundant. 



Botany. 



The Rev. W. Thompson, M.A., J. P., of Guldrey Lodge, Sed- 

 bergh, writes : — The meeting will be behind time for Globe Flower, 

 Mealy Primrose, Bogbean, and Butterwort {Trollius etiropceus, 

 Primula farinosa, Menyaiithes trifoliata, and Pinguicula vulgaris), 

 though the plants may be observed in their later stages. On the 

 other hand. Grass of Parnassus [Fa/nassia palustris) will hardly be 



