0E THE 3IALYERX HILLS. 



483 



constituting the northern parts of the chain are older than those 

 which occur in the southern end. The rocks of the JNorth Hill and 

 the Worcestershire Beacon are, as a rule, coarsely crystalline, and, 

 I believe, older than those of the Eaggedstone and its vicinity, 

 which are for the most part of a schistose character. Owing to 

 frequent faulting and subsequent denudation, the regular chrono- 

 logical sequence along the range is more or less disturbed, and in 

 this manner we meet with very coarsely crystalline rocks in the 

 northern part of Swinyard's Hill, only two or three miles from the 

 southern extremity of the chain, which appear closely to resemble 

 some of the very old rocks in the northern parts of the range. 



The flanking beds of Palaeozoic strata, which abut against the 

 western side of the chsin throughout its entire length, occur only 

 on the eastern sides of the southern hills : and it does not seem un- 

 reasonable to suppose that their partial preservation on this side is 

 due to the downthrow towards the south of the southern portions of 

 the old ridge, although it must be admitted that there are some 

 objections to this view. 



Most of the faults which cross the axis, generally in rf.W. and 

 S.E., and jST.E. and S.W. directions, have been indicated by Dr. HolJ, 

 who has traced them by means of breccias, or inferred their ex- 

 istence from marked discrepancies in the strike of the beds. An 

 examination of the ground shows how carefully he has done this ; but 

 I have ventured here and there to extend some of these lines of fault 

 from the Silurian area across the gneissic rocks, on the strength of 

 somewhat meagre evidence not recorded in his paper. 



As already mentioned, one of the most striking lithological 

 features of this range consists in the generally coarsely crystalline 

 character of the rocks forming the JNorth Hill, the Sugarloaf, the 

 Worcestershire Beacon, the Herefordshire Beacon, and the northern 

 part of Swinyard's Hill. These constitute two well-marked masses 

 when regarded lithologically — the first extending from the northern 

 end of the chain to the Wych, while the second reaches from the 

 northern foot of the Herefordshire Beacon to the fault which crosses 

 Swinyard's Hill. 



These two masses consist, for the most part, of coarsely crystal- 

 line gneissic rocks, sometimes hornblendic, at others micaceous ; 

 while non- foliated rocks of similar mineral constitution also occur, 

 which may be regarded as syenite and granite. Beds of much finer 

 texture are also met with within these areas, but the general 

 character of the two masses is a coarsely crystalline one. 



The contrast between these rocks and those which constitute the 

 other portions of the range, which consist mostly of schists and thinly 

 bedded gneissic rocks of finer texture, has been specially noticed 

 both by the late Professor John Phillips * and by Dr. Holl. 



* " Schistose rocks more or less approaching the character of gneiss are more 

 abundant in the Malvern Hills than might be expected. They occur prin- 

 cipally in the West Eaggedstone Hill, about its summit ; in the northern parts 

 of the Midsummer Hill, and in the hills south of the Wych ; but there are 

 various other more limited exhibitions of such compounds." (Mem. Geol. Surv. 

 vol. ii. pt. 1, p. 43.) 



