Vol. 67.] PERMIAN TO THE TRIAS IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 105 



and younger than the St. Bees Sandstone. He also considers that 

 the Permian and the Trias are closely related ; but Goodchild went 

 farther, and united them into a New Red Sandstone System. 



(7) Manchester District. 



The Permian rocks near Manchester are known chiefly through 

 the researches of Binney (1841 & 1846). The following is his 

 classification. 1 In descending order there are : — 



Thickness in feet. 



1. Strata of red and variegated marls, containing thin layers 



of limestone and gypsum, and beds of sandstone ; they 

 contain fossil mollusca of the genera Schizoclus, Bake- 

 vettia, Pleurophorus, Ttirbo, Bissoa, etc about 300 



2. Conglomeratic brown sandstone about 50 



3. Soft red or variegated sandstone (Collyhurst) about 500 



4. Conglomeratic sandstone (Astley), with pebbles of white 



quartz and shingle with impressions of coal plants about 60 



The fossils occur only in the red or variegated marls and their 

 numerous limestone-intercalations. They comprise 21 species in 

 all, which, H. B. Geinitz (1890, pp. 539 el seqq.) says, establish the 

 Upper Zechstein age of the variegated marls. 



Binney 2 was unable to point out a line of division between the 

 Permian and the Trias, and Geinitz says : — 



' In all cases where the variegated clays of the Upper Dyas or Upper 

 Permian, and those of the Lower Trias or Upper New Eed Sandstones 

 are found in juxtaposition and actual contact, they appear, by the con- 



formability of their stratification, to be intimately linked together 



Where, aga'n, the upper limestone appears more independent and of the 

 character of a pui*e marine formation, there is much less temptation to 

 refer the variegated clays or red clay shales at the basis of the variegated 

 sandstone to the Dyas.' (Trans. Manch. Geol. Soc. vol. iv, 1864, p. 133.) 



In the discussion on the paper, Binney stated that the Permian 

 and the Trias (near Manchester) apparently passed into one another, 

 and were inclined at the same angles. They could only be distin- 

 guished by the fossils in the lower beds. 



III. Paleontology of the Upper Maonesian Limestone. 



The Bunter formation may be described as unfossiliferous in 

 England. A few imperfect plants have been recorded, as, for 

 example, those found by Mr. K. J). Vernon 3 at Colwick, Nottingham, 

 in the uppermost layers of the Pebble Beds; but these are of no value 

 for chronological purposes. In the absence of determinable fossils, 

 it is clearly impossible to say whnt animals and plants were in 

 existence during the period of the English Bunter ; and it is unsafe 

 to assume that, if fossils should ever be found in these rocks, they 

 will prove to belong to a different period from those known to occur 

 in the Upper Magnesian Limestone of the English Permian. 



1 In Geinitz, 1890, p. 538. 



2 In Geinitz, 1864, p. 145. 



3 G. TV. Lamplugh & others, 1908, p. 42. 



