SUMMARY OF THE NEW RED SYSTEM. 



65 



We may now conclude by simply recapitulating, that the previous details have shown 

 the existence of — 



1st, Saliferous and gypseous marls, with beds of sandstone, constituting together the 

 equivalent of the " Keuper " formation of the Continent. 



2nd, Sandstones and quartzose conglomerates, representing the " Bunter Sandstein" of 

 the Germans, and " Gres Bigarre" of the French. 



3rd, Calcareous conglomerate, the position and structure of which proves it to be of 

 the same age as the dolomitic conglomerate of the South-west, and of the Mag- 

 nesian Limestone of the North-east of England, and that, however differing in 

 mineral characters, it is therefore, as shown by Professor Sedgwick, the repre- 

 sentative of the rocks known in Germany under the names of Zechstein, Rauch- 

 wacke, &c. The trappean conglomerates on the flanks of the Malvern and 

 Abberley Hills, are of about the age of this deposit, being clearly of younger age 

 than the sandstones which form the true base of the system 1 . 



4th, That the Lower New Red Sandstone overlying the coal-fields of Staffordshire and 

 Shropshire, though differing considerably in lithological structure, is the equi- 

 valent of those sandstones of the North-east of England, which occupy the same 

 place as the "Rothe-todte-liegende" and probably the lower beds of the Gres des 

 Vosges 2 . The country described being intermediate between the south-western 

 districts of England, where the dolomitic conglomerate rests unconformably 

 upon the coal measures, and those northern districts where the series is fully 

 developed, it is interesting to observe the points whence the expansion com- 

 mences, and to mark the gradual increase of the lower deposits of the system, 



up and consists of detached angular fragments imbedded in the sandstone. The latter is commonly of very fine 

 texture, but some specimens of coarse grit may be found, the pebbles of which (chiefly quartz) are one fourth 

 of an inch in diameter." Letter to myself, March 11, 1837. In a subsequent letter, March 22, Mr. Strickland 

 further announces that Mr. Amphlett, of Dunclent near Kidderminster, had discovered fossil vegetables in a 

 stratum of "dove-coloured" sandstone, which separates the great mass of red sandstone from the overlying marls. 

 This band of whitish sandstone, very similar to that of Burg Hill, extends along the district of Doverdale. The 

 plants, consisting of various genera, were chiefly found at Elmley Lovett, and at Hadley near Ombersley, and 

 are now deposited in the museum of the Natural History Society of Worcester. I have requested that the 

 specimens may be sent up to Professor Lindley to be described and figured in the Fossil Flora, and conceiving 

 this discovery to be of great importance I shall_ visit the localities and announce the result in the Appendix." 

 March 23, 1837. 



1 An expression has inadvertently crept into a previous sheet, p. 30, which I hasten to explain. It is there 

 stated, that the conglomerates in question may represent the formations 2, 3, or 4, of this System. The conglo- 

 merates here alluded to never can represent the No. 4, or Lower New Red Sandstone, but they are occasionally 

 underlaid by a thin zone of sandstone, which possibly may be considered the feeble representative of that for- 

 mation. 



2 See Professor Sedgwick's Memoirs, Geological Transactions, vol. hi. and iv. Consult also " Systeme des 

 Vosges," of M. Elie de Beaumont, (Memoires pour servir a une Description geologique de la France, vol. i.) ; 

 the valuable Map of the Rhine, and " Geognostische Umrisse der Rheinlander," by Oeynhausen, Dechen, and 

 La Roche ; and the work of M. Voltz before cited. 



