NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM. 37 



similar difference in lithological character between two contem- 

 poraneous deposits in tlie lower oolite, which is thoroughly cal- 

 careous in the South of England, but in Yorkshire has only a 

 single bed of impure limestone 30 to 60 feet in thickness in the 

 midst of an arenaceous series 800 feet in depth. In our two 

 counties we get this limestone type fairly shown only in the 

 comparatively small Magnesian Limestone tract of the east of 

 Dui'ham, and its features developed, to a certain extent, in the 

 upper part of the western Durham dales, especially in Teesdale 

 and Weardale. The wide extent of hill-country between the 

 Cheviots and the Tyne, several hundreds of square miles in area, 

 and the fells and the slopes of the west of Durham, with the ex- 

 ception just indicated, show everywhere in their contours and 

 Flora the distinctive features of the eugeogenous type. We 

 will, therefore, in the first place, attempt a detailed sketch of 

 the vegetation of a hill of this kind. Our notes refer to Simon- 

 side, which was selected as being a fair typical representative of 

 the shale-sandstone type of moor which occupies so large a pro- 

 portion of the northern English counties. 



General Sketch of a Eugeogenous Sill and its Vegetation. — 

 From Eothbury to the summit cairn, at the east end of the 

 hill, the distance is about 4 miles. Walking up the dale on the 

 south side we have to keep the high road as far as the little vil- 

 lage of Tosson, and then are in a straight line between the peak 

 and the Coquet. At 500 feet above sea-level, and 200 above the 

 river, we pass the highest farm house, and very soon the corn 

 fields cease, and we climb through a meadow along the bank of 

 the streamlet which flows down from the hill to the Coquet, 

 a tiny brook overshadowed by ash-trees and bushes of bird- 

 cheny, hazel, and blackthorn, with Crepis paludosa growing 

 amongst them, and a beautiful form of Rosa tomentosa, with pure 

 white petals just tinged towards the edge with red. Then a 

 half-di'ained rushy pasture (one of the rushes in which is Jimcus 

 diffusm) is crossed, and we enter upon the open moor. From 

 where the heather begins, to the highest point of the hill, the 

 ascent is 900 feet, and the distance is not less than a mile, but 



