Upper Formations of the NeiD Red Sandstone Si/ stem. 345 



One of the best sections of the red sandstone is in a quarry on the north- 

 west of Kenilworth Castle : — 



a. Laminated, marly red sandstone 5 feet. 



b. Thick-bedded, reddish brown sandstone, sometimes discoloured by manganese, 



with occasional fragments of red marl, and a few rolled pebbles of altered sand- 

 stone and porphyry 20 



25 

 The bedding irregular. The general dip about 5° S.E. 



It is needless to give further details respecting this great red sandstone de- 

 posit, for its general features are very uniform. We therefore proceed to 

 make a few concluding observations. 



The section fig. 4, proves that the light-coloured sandstone of Warwick 

 agrees completely with the rocks of Ombersley and Bromsgrove, (fig. 5.) in 

 rising from beneath the marls, and in passing downwards into solid red sand- 

 stone. Although this rock has been recently described by Dr. Buckland, it is 

 essential to our purpose to state, that, from geological and other evidences, we 

 consider that it cannot be, as he conceives, the equivalent of the German Keu- 

 per. The true position of that rock is, fortunately, indicated in natural sections 

 near Warwick, as well as in many parts of Worcestershire, where it is de- 

 monstrated that the thin-bedded sandstone, or true Keuper, is separated from 

 the thick-bedded sandstone of Ombersley, Bromsgrove, and Warwick, by a 

 vast thickness of red and green marl. Obedient, however, to geological 

 principles, based on zoological evidences, we should not pretend to set up the 

 classification here suggested, in opposition to the views of so distinguished a 

 geologist as Dr. Buckland, if founded only on the relative geological position 

 of these rocks. On the contrary, if it could have been shown, that the fossils 

 which we have now pointed out as characterizing the upper sandstone, occurred 

 also in the lower, — that the plants in the lower sandstone were similar to the 

 well-known plants of the German Keuper, — and that the fragments of Sau- 

 rians found in the sandstones of Guy's Cliff and Warwick really belonged to 

 the species peculiar to the Keuper, — then, indeed, we should willingly allow 

 that the lower sandstone also must be grouped with that formation. Seeing, 

 however, that the animal remains of the one sandstone are, as far as we can 

 judge, entirely different from those of the other, and that the plants, so abun- 

 dant in the lower rock, have none of the characters of the Flora of the Keuper, 

 butjOn the contrary, contain one remarkable plant, the Echinostachi/s, a. genus 

 considered by Aciolphe Brongniart as peculiarly characteristic of the Gri^s 

 bigarre, — we are compelled to adhere to our opinion, and to contend that the 

 peculiar sandstone of Burge-hill, Ripple, Inkberrow, Alcester, Shrewley Com- 



