420 Mr. Brockbank on 



and Mr. Binney held to be Permians. If I am correct in 

 my identification they thus become Middle Coal Measure 

 Sandstones beyond doubt, as they are 214 feet under the 

 Lowest Spirorbis limestone. Mr. Binney dealt with this 

 subject in a paper read before the Society, October 20th, 

 1863, and printed in the Memoirs^ 3rd Series, Vol 2, p. 375. 

 The Whitehaven sandstone, he says, is about 140ft. thick, 

 and he considered it a Coal Measures rock many years 

 ago. Then he had only examined the tipper portion of it, 

 and had not seen the lower parts, which for 30ft. are of a 

 conglomerate character, containing white quartz pebbles 

 the size of a common bean, and much peroxide of iron, and 

 decomposed felspar, and not to be distinguished from Mill- 

 stone Grit. It also contains traces of volcanic ash (p.371). 

 He sums up the question thus : — "If not classed as Permian 

 it must be upper and unconformable Coal Measures. The 

 chief reason which has induced me to remove them from the 

 Carboniferous strata is the conglomerate character of the 

 lower part of the sandstone, which, as previously stated, is 

 more like Millstone Grit than an Upper Coal Measure rock. 

 For the present, it appears to me desirable to retain it, as 

 Professor Sedgwick first designated it, by the name of 

 Lower Red Sandstone, or my name of Lower Permian." 

 This conglomerate, which is a portion of the Whitehaven 

 sandstone, is so singular a rock and so strongly marked, as 

 to be almost unmistakeable. 



The Whitehaven sandstone occurs for a considerable 

 distance along the coast, all the strata above it having been 

 denuded — so that this is the first time of its recorded 

 occurrence in its true position, so far as I am aware. 

 The Spirorbis limestone has not been previously found in 

 the Whitehaven coal field, though it occurs at Cannobie, 

 just over the Scottish border. Its discovery is, therefore, 

 of special interest. The first bed is 3ft. pin. thick, of a 

 pinkish colour, and has the following constituents : — 



