1862.] HARKNESS — SKIDDAW SLATE SERIES. 123 



the lower portion of Frozzen-gill, these grits also occur under like 

 circumstances. 



In following up Frozzen-gill to its source, the Skiddaw slates are 

 well seen ; they consist of grey beds considerably contorted, but with 

 prevailing S.S.E. dips ; and on both sides of the stream abundance 

 of " Screes" occur, from which Graptolites were procured, including 

 the branching form before alluded to, and also tracks. 



North of the head of Frozzen-gill, on the opposite side of the water- 

 shed, is the source of the Ellen, the river which enters the sea at 

 Maryport. The banks of the stream, at its highest part known as 

 Ellen-gill, afford exposures of rocks in situ, consisting of grey Skiddaw 

 slates also dipping S.S.E. ; and on following down its course, as it flows 

 between Lowthwaite-fell and Mell-fell, the Skiddaw slate is again 

 seen, dipping S.S.E. 35°. 



There are numerous " Screes " on the sides of this stream yield- 

 ing ordinary Graptolites and the branching form, the latter in con- 

 siderable abundance *. The Skiddaw slates prevail down Ellen-gill 

 for a considerable distance, when they are succeeded by rocks of a 

 trappean nature, as these are exhibited in the enclosed ground on 

 the north side of Lowthwaite-fell. East from this, at the head of 

 Bed-gill, and partially also at the head of Silver-gill, the Skiddaw 

 slates make their appearance f. 



The western side of the district of the Skiddaw slates under con- 

 sideration is well seen among the rocks forming the western skirts 

 of Skiddaw. In this portion of the district, to the north of a thick 

 mass of quartz-veins known as " White Stones," above a plantation 

 on the south-west side of Skiddaw, there is an escarpment of flaggy 

 rocks ; they dip S.S.E. 30°, and are associated with cleaved strata. 

 Beneath this escarpment " Screes " are found which furnish Grap- 

 tolites Sagittarius, G. tenuis, Diplograpsus pristis, Tetragrapsus (the 

 branching Graptolite before referred to), Crustaceans, Annelid-tubes, 

 and tracks. 



The whole of the fossils here have a great resemblance to those of 

 Outerside, on the opposite side of Bassenthwaite Lake, and the posi- 

 tion of the rocks here shows that they are an extension E.N.E. of 

 the strata of that locality. Northwards from the escarpment of the 

 south-west of Skiddaw, along the eastern skirts of the Dod-fell, al- 

 though cleavage with a north-west inclination greatly prevails, the 

 direction of the dip of the strata is on the whole S.S.E. ; and the 

 same dip may be seen on the road along the western base of Dod- 

 fell, between Bassenthwaite and Keswick. 



North of Dod-fell, which is the western spur of Skiddaw, on the 

 side of the hill immediately north-east of Mirehouse, another escarp- 



* On merely passing over the " Screes " of Frozzen-gill and Ellen-gill, I found 

 the fossils alluded to in considerable quantities, especially in the latter locality. 

 There is every reason to infer that if these " Screes " were well examined, they 

 would afford numerous fossils, some of which might probably prove to be new. 



t Red-gill is the only locality in England which affords the rare mineral ca- 

 ledonite — the cupreous sulphato-carbonate of lead. Tins, however, is not ob- 

 tained from the Skiddaw slates, but in igneous rocks occurring here which will 

 subsequently be alluded to. 



