288 T. V. HOLMES ON THE PERMIAN, TEIASSIC, AND 



changes between the Caldew and Hether Burn, till, in the latter 

 stream, it is about south-west. It retains this (general) south- 

 westerly dip as far as the Esk, but west of it the dip becomes more 

 or less east of south. At Annan it is nearly due south. 



"No signs of the Lower Permian formations are visible east of the 

 Annan Water. It is somewhat singular, however, that the Permian 

 rock between the Mth and Lochar Moss, in the neighbourhood of 

 Dumfries, is precisely like the Penrith Sandstone in appearance. It 

 is remarkable for the hardness and thickness of the beds of breccia 

 it contains. The two great Permian sandstones of Penrith and St. 

 Pees are so distinct in character, that there is usually no difficulty 

 in distinguishing them even in hand specimens. 



Having traced the St.-Bees Sandstone around the circumference 

 of the Carlisle basin, except where prevented from doing so by the 

 waters of the Solway, the overlying beds now demand attention. 

 First of these come the Gypseous Shales of Abbey Town and Bow- 

 ness. So thickly and persistently covered by drift is the country 

 immediately around those two places that were the only informa- 

 tion obtainable that to be derived from natural sections the exis- 

 tence of the Gypseous Shales would remain entirely unknown ; nor, 

 indeed, would there be any reason to suppose the St.-Bees Sandstone 

 to be overlain in that quarter by any thing but glacial drift, peat, 

 and alluvium. 



Fortunately, however, two borings come to our aid, one of which 

 discloses the fact that in the neighbourhood of Abbey Town more 

 than 700 feet of Gypseous Shales rest upon St.-Bees Sandstone, and . 

 are themselves covered by nearly 200 feet of drift. The other 

 boring was made near the west end of Bowness, at high-watermark, 

 and proves the presence there of 367 feet of Gypseous Shales below 

 41 feet of drift. It is not absolutely certain that the Bowness 

 boring penetrated to the St.-Bees Sandstone, though it ended in red 

 stone ; but it is very highly probable that such was the case, St.- 

 Bees stone being visible a short distance to the north, on the Scottish 

 shore. At Bowness, therefore, the outcrop of the Gypseous Shales 

 is beneath the Solway ; east of Bowness it probably ranges, under 

 water, in the direction of Eockcliff Marsh. Towards Silloth, on the 

 other hand, it is most likely outside the present coast-line, against 

 which it may abut in the neighbourhood of Allonby. 



The southern outcrop of the Gypseous Shales can only be approxi- 

 mately traced across an entirely drift-covered country by the help 

 of the most northerly exposures of St.-Bees Sandstone. Its general 

 direction is from Allonby to West Newton, and thence to Wigton 

 and Dalston. 



East of Bowness and Abbey Town, the only evidence bearing on the 

 existence of the Gypseous Shales is the record of an old boring near 

 Great Orton, to which I shall have again to refer in treating of the 

 Lias. It was made in search of coal in the year 1781. Below rock 

 evidently Liassic was " red stone or clay sometimes mixed with veins 

 of white." This description fits the Gypseous Shales very well, the 

 gypsum in them being in the form of thin laminae, and beds of any 



