112 MR. E. W. BINNEY ON THE PERMIAN AND 



clearly cut oflF tliat rock from the Trias^ and establish it 

 with the Permian beyond all question. 



I have not made any division of the bunter portions of 

 the Trias. No doubt they are useful in different places^ 

 and have sometimes to be varied with the districts to which 

 they are applied. In the norths about Carlisle^ up to this 

 time only one bed of soft red sandstone without pebbles 

 has come under my notice. But at Sutton^ as previously 

 alluded to, there is a soft red sandstone without pebbles 

 resting on Permian red marls^ which cover a conglomerate 

 lying on Permian red sandstone. Similar sandstones^ in 

 the same position, are seen near the canal at Bedford, 

 below Messrs. Hampson and Co.^s Print-works at Clayton 

 Bridge, Manchester, and near Messrs. Brocklehurst's Lime- 

 works at Ardwick, near Manchester. There is also a soft 

 red sandstone, apparently dipping, under the pebble-beds 

 of Heaton Mersey, near Stockport, well seen on the banks 

 of the Mersey from Stockport to Fogg Brook, which 

 would well pass for the lower soft sandstone of the Trias ; 

 but for some reason with which I am unacquainted, the 

 gentlemen connected with the survey prefer (I am in- 

 formed) to class this sandstone underlying the pebble beds 

 with the Permian rather than the Trias. 



It appears that throughout the western part of Cheshire 

 and the adjoining county of Flint, as well as in West 

 Lancashire, where there are few, if any, Permian strata 

 exposed, the Geological Survey has always had a lower 

 soft red and mottled sandstone ; but when the east part of 

 Lancashire is reached, and undoubted Permian beds found, 

 this supposed lowest member of the Trias disappears.'^ 



* It was once suggested by me that it was possible the permian red marls 

 and limestones might have thinned out to the west, and thus caused some 

 diiEculty in identifying this soft sandstone, which is hard to distinguish from 

 the CoUyhurst sandstones, but such a solution was not entertained by Mr. 

 Hull. Manchester Geological Society's Transactions, vol. ii. p. 33. 



