192 PEOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 25, 



I have already said that the New Eed Marl of England is more 

 closely related physically to the Eheetic and, in some respects, to 

 the Liassic beds, than to the Bunter strata ; and I -wlU now state 

 the stratigraphical phenomena that have led me to form this 

 opinion. 



South and south-west of the Mendip HUls, the New Red Marl 

 and the Magnesian Conglomerates at its base lie directly on Car- 

 boniferous strata. The Rhsetic beds and Lower Lias immediately 

 succeed these, the former lying conformably on, and generally 

 passing into the Red Marl by obvious gradations. On the north, 

 between the Mendip Hills and Tortworth, the Keuper Marls and 

 sandstones, with occasional Magnesian Conglomerates, also lie on 

 Carboniferous strata. North of Tortworth, as far as the Severn, the 

 Marl, very thin and without any Lower Eeuper Sandstone, lies 

 directly on Silurian strata ; and on the north side of the estuary it 

 lies indifferently on Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous rocks. 

 Everywhere in these districts it is immediately succeeded by Rhsetic 

 beds, which graduate downwards lithologically into the Marls ; and 

 these Rhsetic beds are invariably followed by true Lower Lias. The 

 same is the case north and north-west of Gloucester, where the 

 Keuper beds lie on Old Red Sandstone ; and on the east of this area 

 the upper Marls still pass into Rhsetic beds regTdarly overlain by Lias 

 Clay. It is not till we come towards the south end of the Malvern 

 range, that Bunter Sandstones appear beneath the Marl. On the 

 east side of the Malvern and Abberley range, the Bunter beds are 

 thrown out of sight by a fault ; but further north they come out in 

 full force, extending along the flanks of the Permian strata that 

 bound the Eorest of Wyre, the Coalbrook Dale country, and the 

 South Staffordshire Coal-field, whence they stretch along the eastern 

 limits of Korkh "Wales, to the estuary of the Dee and the Mersey. 

 Thence the full Bunter series skirts the Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 and North Staffordshire Coal-fields, lying frequently on Permian 

 rocks, then passing eastward by Ashbourne towards Nottingham, 

 and along the flank of the Magnesian Limestone northward into 

 Yorkshire *. 



East of South Staffordshire the case is different. Round the 

 "Warwickshire Coal-field, the Keuper strata, where unfaulted, lie 

 directly either on Permian or Carboniferous beds, with one small 

 exception north of Atherstone, where Bunter pebble-beds appear 

 for about a mile. Some very thin Bunter beds appear on and round 

 the flanks of the Leicestershire Coal-field ; but generally the Lower 

 Keuper Sandstones lie directly upon Coal-measures; while further east, 

 round Charnwood Forest, the marl lies directly on Cambrian rocks ; 

 and the same is the case with respect to the igneous bosses that rise 

 through the marl further south. 



Wherever the New Red Marl seems to attain its complete thick- 

 ness, it passes into Rhsetic strata ; and these are always succeeded by 

 Lower Lias, as far as the Rhsetic beds have yet been observed. Obser- 



* Sometimes the Bunter beds are cut out by faults for a space ; but this does 

 not affect the general question. 



