Vol. 5 I.J IN THE l PERMIAN ' ROCKS OE WTEE EOREST. , 533 



road lying in some red marl. It did not seem to extend far, 

 however.' 



There can be little doubt, I think, that this was a Spirorbis- 

 limestone similar to those of Sandwell, Hamstead, and Wyre Forest, 

 though it is quite possible that the fossil might not have been 

 present in the mass that Jukes describes. 



Summary. 



To sum up, we find in South Staffordshire a thick series of red 

 rocks overlying the ordinary yellow and grey Coal Measures and 

 underlying the Trias. They consist of sandstones and marls, with 

 calcareous conglomerates and trappoid breccia, the whole having a 

 general red or purplish-red colour. Since the work of Jukes was 

 published, fresh sinkings have shown that these red rocks must all 

 be regarded as of Upper Coal Measure age, because (1) their con- 

 tained fossils have an Upper Coal Measure facies ; (2) they contain 

 bands of limestone characterized by the presence of Spirorbis 

 pusillus • (3) those parts of the series which have not yielded Coal 

 Measure fossils are apparently similar lithologically to those parts 

 which have yielded such fossils ; (4) there is no known stratigra- 

 phical break between the fossiliferous and the non-fossiliferous parts 

 of the red series ; (5) the only marked breaks are at the base and 

 summit of the red series : (6) the break at the base is locally greats 

 but is elsewhere practically imperceptible. 



III. The Wyre Forest [=Enville] ' Permian.' 



Having thus briefly reviewed the evidence as to the age of these 

 red rocks in South Staffordshire, we will now consider the same 

 rocks and examine the fresh evidence which has lately come to 

 light in the Wyre Forest district. This area is typical of the 

 ' Permian ' of the Southern Midlands. Prof. Hull l long ago urged 

 the dissimilarity between these Southern Midland beds and those 

 of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and gave them the convenient name 

 of the ' Salopian Type' of Permian. 



They here occur in their fullest development, and are divisible 

 into three groups as follows : — 



'Permian' of Wyre Forest [ = Enville]. (After Prof. Hull.) 



( 3. Upper Sandstones and Mavis 300 feet. 



| ( e. Trappoid breccia. ") 



Lower Red | 2. Breccia and Con- | d. Sandstones and marls. | Variable, 



Sandstone. ■{ glomerate \ c. Calcareous conglomerate. }■ say 200 



[Rothliegende.] I Group. | b. Sandstones and marls. I feet. 



| \ja,. Calcareous conglomerate. ) 



\ 1. Lower Sandstones and Marls 850 feet. 



1 Quart. Journ. Greol. Soc. vol. xxv. (1869) pp. 171-184; also 'Triassic and 

 Permian Rocks of the Midland Counties of England,' Mem. Geol. Surv. 1869, 

 p. 11. 



