498 PEOr. E.J. GARWOOD ox THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS [DoC. I912, 



graphical evidence to prove that the deposit is not of late Devonian 

 age. On the other hand, no marine deposits of Devonian age are 

 known in the North of England, while the Polygenetic Conglo- 

 merate, which occurs north of Bampton and in the neighbourhood 

 of Sedbergh and elsewhere, has been considered b}' some authorities 

 as a torrential deposit of Upper Devonian age. This conglomerate 

 is certainly older than the beds which form the usual base to the 

 Carboniferous in the Xorth-Western Province, and its sporadic 

 distribution would seem to point to extensive denudation in pre- 

 Carboniferous times, x^o definite evidence can, however, be deduced 

 from a study of the fauna of the Pinskey Beds in favour of the 

 Devonian, any more than of the Carboniferous age of the deposit. 

 In this connexion the statement, made in the Geological Survey 

 Memoir on Mallerstang, &c., that one of the beds contains Producti 

 is important : for, though ProductelJa does occur in the Devonian 

 beds of ]^orth Devon, the occurrence of true Producti at Pinskey 

 would settle the question in favour of the Carboniferous age of the 

 beds. I have not, however, met with any specimen of Productus 

 in these beds ; and a search among the collections and records of 

 the Geological Survey at Jermyn Street has also failed to ])roduce 

 any corroboration of the statement contained in the Memoir. 

 Under these circumstances the record of the occurrence of Productus 

 in these beds must be regarded as unsupported. 



Summary. — We have, then, in Pinskey Gill a series of fossi- 

 liferous deposits which are of considerable interest, on account of 

 their unique character and their uncertain age. The facts, so far 

 as they have been ascertained, may be summarized as follows : — 



(1) The beds lie apparently between the Silurian rocks and the basement 



Carboniferous conglomerate of the district. 



(2) Their relation to the underlying Silurian slates and overlying Carbon- 



iferous conglomerate is obscured by drift, but the dip of the beds does 

 not differ appreciably from that of the overlying Cai-boniferous rocks. 



(3) They are undoubtedly older than any Lower Carboniferous beds so far 



met with elsewhere in the North- Western Province. 



(4) Their lithological and pal^outological characters differ markedly from 



those of the overlying beds. 



(5) They are entirely devoid of fragments of the Shap-Granite felspars, which 



are so chai-acteristic of the basement-beds in this district and occur 

 abundantly in the overlying conglomerate. 



(6) The fossils, with the exception of inarticulate brachiopods, are preserved 



as casts, whereas the organic remains in the beds overlying the con- 

 glomerate have their tests well preserved. 



(7) The fauna is difficult to correlate with that from any known horizon in 



the Lower Carboniferous succession of the South-Western Province. 



[Since the above was written, I have again visited the section in Pinskey 

 Gill, in the company of Mr. R. G. Carruthers, on which occasion some 

 additional fragments of fish-teeth were obtained. Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 who has kindly examined these specimens, reports that they represent a Coch- 

 liodont of some kind, probably Pseplwdiis, and, so far as they go, therefore, 

 point to the Carboniferous age of the deposit.] 



Despite careful search, no other undoubted occurrence of the 

 Pinskey-Gill Beds has been met with. A few feet of unfossiliferous 



