108 Present State of the Devonian Question. [January, 



at the various places situated along the same line of 

 strike."* 



The chief point of interest connected with these observa- 

 tions is the bearing they may have on the supposed fault 

 of Mr. Jukes, a consideration which in reference to the 

 little syenitic dyke at Hestercombe was suggested by Mr. 

 Bristow, when on a visit to this spot on geological survey 

 work. 



The age of the Cannington Park limestone has been a 

 constant source of discussion, and still the opinions vary. 

 Mr. Etheridget spoke in decided terms of its Devonian 

 characters, and of its dissimilarity to the mountain limestone ; 

 while more recently its identity with this latter formation 

 has been again insisted upon.J The scarcity of fossils has 

 somewhat hindered its true position being established : but 

 Mr. S. G. Perceval§ has lately examined a series of corals 

 collected there, and which he finds to be of true carboni- 

 ferous genera and species. The structure of the limestone 

 he also identifies with that of the mountain limestone of the 

 neighbourhood of Bristol. The very diversity of opinion on 

 this patch of limestone would seem to mark it as a connecting 

 link between the mountain and Devonian limestones, and 

 so to lend support to Jukes's view that both belong to the 

 same period. 



Thirty years ago De la Beche remarked, that " from the 

 increased knowledge we have lately had of the beds which 

 may be considered as the passage of the old red sandstone 

 into the carboniferous limestone, as well in Ireland as in 

 South Wales, and in adjacent parts of England, we have 

 endeavoured to point out, as not improbable, that in North 

 Devon some part, at least, of the accumulations there 

 exposed might be referable to that date." He also observes 

 that " there is much leading us to infer that in South 

 Devon the accumulations under notice were not far removed 

 from a similar geological date." |j Mr. Etheridge admits 

 that there may be grounds for endeavouring to establish 

 contemporaneity between the Upper Devonian series of 

 North Devon and the carboniferous slates of the South of 

 Ireland. *[ 



* T. M. Hall, Notes on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Island of 

 Lundy. Trans. Devon Assoc, 1871. 



f Quart. Journ. Geol. Sec, vol. xxiii., p. 581. 



+ H. W. Bristow and H. B. W., Geol. Mag., vol. viii., p. 504. 



§ Geol. Mag., vol. ix., 1872, p. 94. 



1| Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. i., p. 97. 



IT Op. cit. p. 690. 



