Murchisoris Silurian System. 29 



occasionally cemented by calcareous matter. These rela- 

 tions prevail for some miles to the north of Newent, the 

 lower beds of the system overlying a thin zone of coal 

 measure ; but in approaching the Malvern hills, the sand- 

 stones are much more exposed, and the conglomerate near 

 their base is of greater importance, and of different litholo- 

 gical composition. In the absence of natural sections, the 

 presence of the sandstone above the conglomerate (Gres 

 bigarre), is clearly indicated by the "Rye Sand," or sandy 

 loams, which uniformly give a dry agricultural character to 

 the surface of all the tracts occupied by that member of 

 the system. Between Huntley and Lynes Place are good 

 sections of the sandstone arranged in fine-grained, friable, 

 thickish beds, beds of deep red colours, and containing subor- 

 dinate irregular courses of a small conglomerate, in which 

 are fragments of the old red sandstone, and inferior rocks. 

 Some of these conglomerates are slightly calcareous, others 

 pass into mere grits, the whole resting upon and thinning 

 out in light-coloured incoherent sand, and the line of separa- 

 tion is sometimes defined by the nature of the surface, at 

 others by sections exhibiting thin patches of coal measures 

 interpolated between the New and Old Red Sandstones." 

 Clear junctions of the New and Old Red Systems are seen 

 at Hoffield Camp, the first appearing as soft red sandstone, 

 and the second, of brecciated conglomerate, of a deep red 

 colour, containing fragments of syenite, varieties of silurian 

 rocks, quartz rock, and old red sandstone. 



"Almost adjoining the sandstone of Black's Well, and 

 constituting the southern side of the gorge at Knightsford 

 Bridge, through which the Teme escapes from Herefordshire 

 into the plains of Worcestershire, is a remarkable cliff 

 called "Rosemary Rock," the summit of which is about 

 three hundred and fifty feet above the sea ; at this spot the 

 Old Red and New Red Sandstone are again conterminous, 



