6i2 MR. W. H. HARDAKER QX A FOSSIL-BEAEING HOEIZON [DeC. igi2, 



Permian rocks occurring in this part of the Midlands (oyj. cit. p. 11), 

 and regrouped these as follows (p. 13) : — 



r Upper series, of red and purple sandstones and marls. 

 Permiax of tbe J Middle series, of calcareous conglomerates below and 

 Enville area. 1 breccias above. 



i_Lower series, of red and purple sandstones and marls. 



He also pointed out that 



'the highest beds of the Permian series in this district [South Staffordshire] 

 are those of trappoid breccia.* (Op. cit. p. 18.) 



He considered the whole of his ' Salopian ' Permian to be of 

 the same geological age as the Rothliegende. 



Yery little further advance in our stratigraphical knowledge of 

 these rocks was made until 1899, when Mr. "W, Wickham King ^ 

 published his valuable paper on the subject. His arrangement of 

 the South Staffordshire Permian is the following (o/:>. cit. pp. Ill 

 et seqq.) : — 



/^ Upper division : — Breccias interbedded with red sandstones and marls. 



J Middle division : — Calcareous conglomerates and sandstones, interbedded 

 j with marls and soft sandstones, 



\^ Lower division : — Red sandstones and marls. 



His middle division was subdivided into six sub-groups, and 

 his upper into two sub-groups. All these groups were described 

 by him in detail, and followed by him on the eastern side of the 

 South Staffordshire Coalfield as far north as Hands worth, to a 

 point about 3 miles south of the area described in the present 

 paper. 



(6) Palaeontological. — In none of the above-mentioned 

 papers is the true Permian age of any of the members of the 

 ' Salopian ' Permian that occur in the Midlands questioned. But 

 the discovery and identification of a few plants of Carboniferous 

 types atHamstead^ and elsewhere in the lower members of the 

 so-called ' Permian ' ; the discovery of thin coal-seams and Spirorbis 

 Limestone in corresponding members near Enville ^ ; and the 

 further discovery that certain red rocks originally mapped as 

 Permian in ^N'orth Staffordshire must now be properly classed as 

 Upper Coal Measures,^ have all thrown grave doubts upon the 

 ascription of the whole of this massive Midland Eed-Eock Series to 

 the Permian System, as developed on the Continent of Europe. 



1 ' The Permian Conglomerates of the Lower Severn Basin ' Q. J. G. S. vol Iv 

 (1899) p. 97. 



^ R. Kidston, ' On the Fossil Flora of the Staffordshire Coalfields. Pt, i — 

 Plants collected during the Sinking of the Shaft of the Hamstead Colliery ' 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. toI. xxxv (1888) p. 317. 



^ T. 0. Cantrill, ' On the Occurrence of Spirorbis Limestone & Thin Coals 

 in the so-called " Permian " Rocks of Wyre Forest ' Q. J. G. S. vol. li (1895) 

 p. 528. 



•* Walcot Gibson, 'The Geology of the North Staffordshire Coalfields' Mem 

 Geol. Surv. 1905. 



