54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 17, 



ridge like that near Austwick. A great current might account for 

 the blocks in the lower country ; but a great current (without the 

 intervention of ice) would, I think, very ill explain the position of the 

 blocks on the above-mentioned calcareous ridge. Connected with 

 this question, I may remark that in many parts of the neighbouring 

 chains of Yorkshire there are large erratic blocks of limestone quite 

 as difficult to account for (without the intervention of a glacial hy- 

 pothesis), as the position of the caUiard blocks above Austwick. For 

 example, in my native valley of Dent, on the rugged side of a moun- 

 tain made up of the Coniston grits, there are one or two great blocks 

 of Scar-limestone, perched on the bare rocks at a level of more than 

 1000 feet above that of the sea. 



From the details of the previous sections it appears, that the 

 Coniston limestone and Coniston flagstone, which form the base of 

 the whole fossiliferous slate-series of Westmoreland, may be clearly 

 traced from Ravenstonedale through the upper part of the Rother, 

 across the valley of Dent, and again from the ravines above Ingleton 

 to Horton in Ribblesdale. 



In a subsequent paper I hope to show : — ( 1 .) That, agreeably to my 

 first-published opinion, the Coniston limestone is the exact equivalent 

 of the Bala limestone ; and not, as I afterwards supposed, of the 

 Caradoc sandstone. This conclusion falls in with the fact, that the 

 Coniston limestone, at its southern end, does not overlie, but is ac- 

 tually interlaced with, the great central group of Cumberland, or the 

 equivalent of the Cambrian. (2.) That the Coniston flagstone (and 

 its equivalent Horton flagstone) may be grouped with the Coniston 

 limestone. (3.) That the Coniston grits are the true equivalents of 

 the Caradoc sandstone. (4.) Hence that the Ireleth slates and the 

 groups above them are the equivalents of the Wenlock shales, &c. 

 of the Silurian system. The limits of this communication preclude 

 me from discussing these questions, which I hope, before long, to 

 resume. 



December 17, 1851. 



F. Hindmarsh, Esq. was elected a Fellow. 



The following communications were read : — 



I. On the Quader Formation o/ Germany*. 

 By Dr. H. B. Geinitz. 



[Communicated by Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S.] 



The north side of the Hartz, where the Upper Quader-sandstone is 

 so powerfully developed, has lately thrown a new light on the rela- 

 tions of this rock with the Upper Quader-marl. Professor Bey rich, 

 * See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. Part 2. p. 6-11. 



