Red Hocks of the South Devon Coast. 151 



2. " A Comparison of the Red Rocks of the South Devon Coast 

 with those of the Midland and Western Counties." By Prof. Edward 

 Hull, LL.D., E.R.S., E.G.S. 



The author believes, with Dr. Irving, that the Red Rocks of Devon- 

 shire are representatives of the Permian and Trias which occupy so 

 large a portion of the district bordering Wales and Salop and which 

 extend into the Midland Counties, and comments on the remarkable 

 resemblance between the representative beds on either side of the 

 dividing ridge of Palaeozoic rocks which underlies East Anglia and 

 emerges, beneath the Jurassic strata in Somersetshire. 



He believes that the breccia forming the base of the series in the 

 Torquay district is a representative of the Lower Permian division, 

 but differs from Dr. Irving in assigning the red sandstones and 

 marls of Exmouth to the Trias, and not to the Permian as that 

 author has done. He compares them with the Lower Red and 

 Mottled Sandstones, and regards the Marls as of local origin, thus 

 causing the beds to diverge from the normal type. 



The Budleigh Salterton Pebble-beds, with overlying sandstones 

 and pebbly beds, he assigns to the horizon of the Pebble-beds of 

 the Midland area, and points out that fossils of Silurian and 

 Devonian types occur in the pebbles of both areas. 



The Upper Division of the Punter is well shown at Sidmouth, and 

 the author takes a calcareous breccia, two feet thick, which is found 

 in the cliffs, as the basement-bed of the Keuper division. 



3. " Supplementary Note to the Paper on the ' Red Rocks of the 

 Devon Coast-section,' Q. J. G. S. 1888." By the Rev. A. Irving, 

 D.Sc, B.A., E.G.S. 



In this note the author accepts Prof. Hull's determination (see 

 above) of the breccia at Sidmouth as the base of the Keuper, and 

 discusses the age of the sandstones containing vertebrate remains 

 discovered by Messrs. Whitaker, Metcalfe, and Johnston-Lavis. He 

 brings forward evidence in support of his view that these are really of 

 Upper Bunter age, notwithstanding the character of the organisms. 



He adds new material in support of his contention that the sand- 

 stones and marls which Prof. Hull assigns to the Lower Bunter are 

 really Permian ; but he is inclined to think that the breccias (in part, 

 at least) pass laterally into the sandstones, and do not underlie them. 



Erom this it follows that the break between the Permian and Trias 

 of Devon is marked by the absence of the Lower Bunter of the Mid- 

 lands, and the author quotes remarks of Mr. Ussher in support of his 

 view that there is an unconformity at the base of the Pebble-bed. 



In conclusion the author refers to the difficulties of ascertaining 

 the exact age of the breccias, and notes that we cannot prove that 

 the highest Carboniferous beds are present in Devonshire. He 

 observes that there is no valid reason why the great breccia-sandst one 

 series of Devon should not be the true equivalent of the Lower Roth- 

 liegendes both in time and position in the sequence, and that some 

 portions of them may be even older than the llotkliegendes of some 



