292 PEOCEEDiNGS OP THE g:&ological SOCIETY. [May 12, 



the Permian, and calls them the " Lower Eed Sandstone." At first 

 he believed them to belong to the underlying millstone grit, but 

 subsequently changed his mind upon this point. The grit (exposed by 

 denudation) under the magnesian limestone in Bramham Park he 

 also assigns to the Permian, though he has not failed to observe the 

 unconformity that exists between these ^^ Lower-Eed-Sandstone " 

 beds and the magnesian limestone proper. 



Prof. Phillips (in a paper entitled "Notes on the Geology of 

 Harrogate," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxi. p. 234) also assigns 

 the Plumpton grit to the Permian series, and speaks of it in the 

 following words : — " The rock is often quite un distinguishable from 

 millstone grit in hand specimens; even the purple colour (due to 



decomposed ferruginous mica) fails sometimes As we proceed 



to the south, and reach the Leeds coal-basin, the Permian beds lose 

 their similitude to millstone grit ; and as we pass to the north and 

 encounter the mountain-limestone, so also the^ resemblance to mill- 

 stone grit is lost, nor is it recovered in Durham or Korthumberland, 

 nor does it occur in any other part of the kingdom, though quartzose 

 pebbles and coarse sand accompany it in many parts." The grit on 

 Bramham Moor, however. Prof. Phillips excludes from the Permians, 

 and he also bears witness to the unconformability of the magnesian 

 limestone to the so-called "Lower Eed Sandstone." 



Sir Eoderick Murchison (on p. 349 of ' Siluria,' 3rd ed.) speaks of the 

 Plumpton rocks, near Harrogate, being " identical with the quartz- 

 conglomerates of Germany, whether as regards their ingredients, 

 colour, false bedding, or massive stratification." 



2. Authorities for Millstone-grit Age. — Mr. Binney (in an article 

 in the * Geol. Mag.' for Peb. 1866) inclines strongly to the belief of 

 the millstone -grit age of these rocks, both on the ground of their 

 apparent conformabihty to the rocks below them, and of the cha- 

 racter of the fossil plants which they contain; while he draws 

 attention to the peculiar circumstance of Permian Lower Eed Sand- 

 tone having millstone-grit characters solely in a neighbourhood 

 where it overlies the miUstone grit. 



In a paper by the Eev. John Stanley Tute on the " Geology of the 

 Neighbourhood of Eipon," read before the West-Eiding Geological 

 and Polytechnic Society, the red grits below the magnesian lime- 

 stone are spoken of as being debateable ground ; but the author's 

 views are in favour of their belonging to the miUstone-grit series, 

 into which he saj^s they seem to pass gradually. 



3. Nature of Beds immediately underlying the Magnesian Lime- 

 stone from east of Leeds nortJitvards. — East of Leeds the Coal- 

 measures with an easterly strike pass under the unconformable 

 magnesian limestone, the coal at one or two spots being worked 

 bereath it. At Barwick-in-Elmet, immediately beneath the lime- 

 stone, the shales pre micaceous, sandy, and purplish, but these pass 

 gradually down into sandy micaceous shales of the Lower Coal- 

 measures having their usual colour. Just east of the village the 

 little river Cock has cut through the limestone and shown it lying 

 unconformably upon a hard Coal-measure sandstone, close-grained 



