Vol. 6$.~] OKIGIX OF THE PLATEAUS ABOUND TOKQTJAY. 117 



the' surface of the Permian which underlies them in the Allcr basin 

 to that of the Devonian rocks which form the plateau. 



The general theory of the connexion between the basin and the 

 plateau may perhaps be more clearly expressed as follows : that 

 the local sagging-down or basin-like deflexion of the synclinal fold 

 died out south-east of Kin gskers well, the continuation of the flexure 

 assuming a monoclinal type over the Watcombe and St. Marychurch 

 area. Thus, a surface which passed southward at a high level from 

 the Haldon Hills was bent down along the Watcombe-Park ridge 

 and continued almost horizontally at a lower level. 



Such a flexure would, in fact, be a counterpart of the monoclinal 

 axis which traverses the Isle of Wight, or that which carries the 

 Eocene from the North Downs at Headley and Walton in Surrey 

 beneath the London Basin near Ashtead and Epsom. The only 

 difference between these cases is, that in Devon the slope of 

 the monocline faces south-westward, while in the others it faces 

 northward. 



The Warberry-Lincombe Ridge. 



If the foregoing theory is correct, the existence of this ridge within 

 the plateau- area has to be accounted for ; and, so far as I can see, 

 only two probable explanations can be advanced : (1) that it is part 

 of an opposing upward flexure ; (2) that the original plateau was 

 here interrupted by a ridge which resisted the prevalent planation. 



Although the first of these alternatives seems perhaps a priori 

 the most probable, there are strong objections to its acceptance. If 

 these hills were part of an upward flexure corresponding to the 

 "Watcombe-Park and Milber-Down slope, they must have formed part 

 of a continuous ridge having a similar direction from north-west to 

 south-east ; but the present features of the country to the north- 

 west do not favour the idea of the existence of such a ridge. On 

 the contrary, as we have already seen, the Warberry-Lincombe 

 ridge is nearly surrounded by surfaces which seem to be degraded 

 and dissected portions of the plateau. On the western side there is 

 not only a tract of this kind, but it is still further separated from 

 the nearest high ground by the width of the Torre Valle}^. Lastly, 

 this high ground (west of Shiphay and Cockington) has a very small 

 extension to the north-west, and is really part of a watershed-ridge 

 running in a north-and-south direction. 



There is, therefore, no evidence for the existence of a continuous 

 ridge with which the higher Torquay hills could have been con- 

 nected. On the contrary, they seem to be essentially a local feature 

 and one of considerable antiquity ; they occupy the central part of 

 an elliptical dome-shaped flexure of the Devonian rocks, which 

 seems to have formed a ridge prior to the deposition of the Permian 

 beds, and to have been buried as a ridge by the accumulation of the 

 Permian clays and conglomerates. When, therefore, these deposits 

 were removed by the erosive agencies operating in Eocene time, the 

 harder parts of the buried ridge seem to have resisted destruction,. 



