1871.] KAMSAY PRETEIASSIC RED ROCKS. 245 



of the sea and the deposits that have already been formed ; and the 

 upper strata all round would overlap the lower, apparently much 

 as the Old Eed Sandstone strata do in Wales and the adjoining 

 counties. If the Caspian and other parts of the Asiatic area of 

 inland drainage got filled with fresh water, the same general results 

 would foUow. 



Neither does the unconformity mentioned by Mr. Jukes present 

 any insuperable difficulty, assuming his Lower Old Eed Sandstone 

 to be represented in England and Scotland, of which as yet there is 

 no absolute proof. It indicates only great disturbance and denuda- 

 tion, while the red colour, and the total absence of fossils tUl we 

 reach the very uppermost beds of the Upper Old Eed Sandstone, 

 point to inland waters. These fossUs, it is well known, are terrestrial 

 ferns, Adiantites {Palceopieris) liibernicus, and a freshwater shell, 

 Anodon Jukesii, together with the fish Glyptolepis. 



Permian strata. — I will now proceed to discuss the conditions 

 under which the British Permian strata were deposited. These, it 

 is well known, are usually divided in descending order into Mag- 

 nesian Limestone or Zechstein, with subordinate Marl-slate or 

 Kupferschiefer, and Eothliegende ; and though this division is 

 very convenient for great part of the Continent, it is not with 

 certainty perfectly applicable to the whole of England and some 

 other parts of Europe. If we take the whole country from near 

 Nottingham to Tynemouth, there is no marked line of division 

 between the Marl-slate and the Magnesian Limestone ; and all along 

 that range the red rocks on which the limestone series rests are now 

 proved to be Carboniferous sandstones and shales stained by infiltra- 

 tion from above, which thus put on the likeness of Permian marls *. 

 The siTpposed Eothliegende has, indeed, almost disappeared from the 

 entire area. 



The Permian marls, sandstones, conglomerates, and subangular 

 breccias of Leicestershire, Warwickshire, South Staffordshire, Shrop- 

 shire, and North Wales are as a rule all red, and have no visible 

 connexion with the Magnesian Limestone. In Lancashire, in upper 

 Permian strata, thin beds of magnesian limestone are interstratitied 

 with red marls ; and these limestones, as Mr. Binney and Mr. Hull 

 state, may represent in time, as they do lithologically, the limestone 

 series in the east and north of England. The latter are also inter- 

 stratitied with two or three occasional bands of red marl, while in 

 Lancashire the limestones have many marl-beds intermingled with, 

 and also both above and below them. Underneath the limestones 

 and marls of Lancashire there are soft red sandstones, of great thick- 

 ness, generally believed to represent the Eothliegende. 



The Permian sandstones on the south and west coasts of the Cum- 

 brian country are red, as are those in the Vale of Eden. In the Vale 

 of Eden the Brockram at and near the base has no connexion with 



* Tlie Yellow sands at the base of the limestone beds are generally a residue 

 of sand. The limestone, which is often sandy, rests on shale, which is compara- 

 tively impermeable to water. The limestone dips east ; the carbonate of lime 

 has been carried away in solution as bicarbonate ; and the sand remains. 



