406 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 30, 



Mr. GoDWTK-AtrsTEK remembered that at the Meeting of the 

 British Association a Palceoniscus catojpterus and an Estheria were 

 produced which were thought to identify the Irish beds with analo- 

 gous red beds on the other side of the water. He was not prepared 

 to accept the beds to which the name of Permian had been applied 

 as distinct in their origin from those below and above them, and 

 therefore worthy of a distinctive name. The conglomerate bed of 

 the Eoth-todt-liegende was only a littoral deposit of that period ; 

 and a mere analogy of character did not prove identity of date, as 

 the same parent rocks, when broken up at different times, would 

 yield similar breccias and conglomerates. He regarded the Zech- 

 stein period as one of extensive lake- systems, though with occasional 

 incursions of salt water. The Red-Sandstone deposits, as a rule, 

 were, in the west, formed in fresh water; and in more eastern 

 districts, as in Russia, they were of salt-water origin. He agreed 

 with Prof. Ramsay as to the climatal conditions of that period, and 

 had in the west of England seen blocks of porphyry which had 

 been deposited in the midst of small detritus ; and these he thought 

 could not have been transported by any other agency than that 

 of ice. 



Mr. Hopklnson mentioned the Permian breccias of the south of 

 Scotland, which are overlain by a deposit of glacial age, so similar 

 to the breccia below as to be with difficulty distinguished from it. 



Prof. T. Rupert Jones argued that without exact evidence the 

 mere character and constituents of the conglomerates afforded no 

 sufficient criterion as to age. In reply to Mr. Godwin-Austen he 

 insisted upon there being direct evidence in Germany and elsewhere 

 of a distinction between the Permian and Triassic series. 



Prof. Hughes was most grateful to Mr. Godwin- Austen for at- 

 tacking those difficult beds, the Trias and the Permian. In the 

 Vale of Clwyd, which he had recently been mapping, he had found 

 it almost impossible to distinguish them. The bulk of the Permian 

 fossils had by some authors been transferred to the Carboniferous ; 

 and in other respects this province had been severely trenched upon. 

 Still, as the New Red Sandstone belonged to a lengthened period of 

 denudation, there was ample room for change of climate. He did 

 not, however, think that the occasional presence of large blocks in 

 a drifted deposit was by itself sufficient proof of glacial action, as 

 when once a block of stone was moved, the carrying power of water 

 was very great. He did not agree with the author as to the exact 

 parallelism between the English and Irish deposits ; and cited an 

 instance, near Tebay, of Permian conglomerates passing into Car- 

 boniferous limestone, and with no characteristic whatever of a 

 glacial origin. He doubted, therefore, as to the application of a 

 glacial theory to this formation. 



Mr. A. Ttlor inquired whether the beds might not be of some 

 intermediate date between the Carboniferous and Quaternary, like 

 certain Belgian beds of the same character, which were possibly of 

 Cretaceous age. 



Mr. Blanfoed suggested the possibility of the beds being of sub- 



