Correspondence — Mr. C. E. De Ranee. 575 



THE PEEMTAN AND TRIAS. 



Sir, —As my name has been alluded to by the Eev. A. Irving and 

 by Prof. Hull in reference to the classification of these beds in 

 Lancashire, I wish to point out that the former is correct in stating 

 that I do not ascribe the Garstang sandstones, found by me north of 

 Preston in 1869, to "Upper Permian Age," but if he imagines I 

 correlate them with the Trias, he is certainly in error, as I have 

 always considered them the equivalents of the Collyhurst (Lower 

 Permian) Sandstones of Manchester, and so described them in 1877.^ 

 No one, who has examined the country between Bedford Leigh and 

 Manchester, can for one moment doubt the correctness of the two- 

 fold division of the Permian in that area, established by that most 

 able field geologist Mr. Binney, and afterwards established in detail 

 by Prof. Hull. Boring after boring has been made in this district, 

 and the classification has never been shaken ; I have since 1868, year 

 by year examined every new section of importance in Lancashire, 

 and since the establishment of the Underground Water Committee of 

 the British Association in 1874, have visited every important boring 

 whilst in progress, and I consider that the evidence afforded by these 

 sections and borings establishes the conclusions of Messrs. Binney 

 and Hull to be founded on fact. 



1st. Thei-e is good evidence of the Triassic sandstones overlapping 

 the various Permian beds, and occasionally extending beyond them, 

 as between Warrington and Liverpool, as pointed out by me in 1879. 



2nd. In the Manchester district there is a distinct twofold division 

 of the Permian, the upper portion consisting of marls, with numerous 

 beds of limestones, and the lower part of white, red and variegated 

 sandstones. 



3rd. These marls increase in thickness steadily in proceeding 

 eastward from Manchester, being at Worsley 131 feet thick, at Ard- 

 vi^ick Station 150, at Openshaw Bore-hole 205, while still further to 

 the north-east they are 245 feet. 



4th. The base of these marls are generally conglomeratic, and 

 rest on the Lower Permian Sandstone. This was well seen at the 

 Openshaw boring, which was visited whilst in progress, by Mr. 

 Binney, and by myself; the lower 70 feet of these marls were teem- 

 ing with fossils, of which I made a collection, now at Jermyn Street. 



5th. The Collyhurst Sandstone obeys the same law, of westerly 

 attenuation, being only 10 feet at Albert Bridge, 250 feet at Colly- 

 hurst, and no less than 752 at the Openshaw boring, the sandstone in 

 each case resting unconformably on underlying Coal-measures. 



6th. In the Openshaw boring, the details of wdaich have been 

 published by Mr. Atherton,- the boring was continued in the Coal- 

 measures to a depth of 1300 feet, passing through the well-known 

 Ardwick series of Upper Coal-measure Limestone, so that in this 

 boring no possibility occurs of the Permian Limestones of Upper 

 Permian age being confounded with the Ardwick Limestones. 



1 Eeport of Brit. Assoc, Third Eeport Underground "Water Committee. 



2 Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc. -vol, xv. 1878. • 



