English Formations. 307 



with two or three thin beds of red marl sometimes con- 

 taining gypsum. The scarped edge of this limestone, 

 which is sparsely fossiliferous, faces west, and overlooks 

 the lower undulations of the Coal-measure area. 



There are other patches of Permian sandstones, 

 marls, breccias, and conglomerates, in the South of 

 Scotland, the Vale of Eden, and the West of Cumber- 

 land, and they are also here and there present on the 

 borders of the Lancashire, North "Wales, Shropshire, and 

 all the Midland coal-fields, and on the Silurian rocks of 

 the Abberley and Malvern Hills. Throughout all the 

 districts enumerated above, these Permian strata chiefly 

 consist of red sandstones, conglomerates, and marls, and 

 part of them, in the districts of the Malvern and Abber- 

 ley Hills, near Enville, and at Bromsgrove, consist of 

 consolidated true Permian glacial boulder-clays. 



The Permian beds form the uppermost members of 

 the so-called Palaeozoic or old-life period a term 

 somewhat unphilosophical, in so far that it partly 

 conveys a false impression of a life essentially distinct 

 from that of later times. But it is at present convenient, 

 for all geologists know when the word palaeozoic is 

 used what formations are meant, embracing all the 

 strata from those of Permian date down to the 

 lower Laurentian. During the time they were forming, 

 this and other parts of the world suffered many oscilla- 

 tions of level, accompanied by denudations, as shown in 

 previous chapters. 



Before the end of this Palaeozoic epoch, the Per- 

 mian beds were deposited in great inland salt lakes, 

 analogous to the Caspian Sea and other salt lakes in 

 Central Asia, at the present day. That area gives the 

 best modern idea of the state of much of the world 

 during Permian times. 



x2 



