116 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



mains of undoubted Permian reptiles, and as we cannot believe, from the 

 sharp angles of the rock-fragments of which it is composed, that they hare 

 travelled any considerable distance, we must necessarily suppose that the 

 formation, of which it is the representative, was to some extent developed 

 here. 



" We have seen the upper beds of the New Hed Sandstone deposited 

 unconformably against the upthrown Silurian and the Old Hed, at Flaxley 

 and elsewhere ; the Lias against the Old Hed Sandstone, as here ; and 

 upon Silurian strata, as near Eastwood ; Mr. Charles Moore has informed 

 us that the fissures of the Carboniferous Limestone of his district contain 

 Liassic fossils ; and Mr. Etheredge has shown us a specimen of the same 

 limestone bored by Lithophagidse, at whose death their holes were filled 

 up by then-forming Oolitic granules. 



"Under these circumstances, as we are not acquainted with any group 

 of strata intermediate to the Permian and Triassic formations, and as we do 

 not find these in contact here, may we not reasonably infer that beds of 

 Permian age had been deposited here in their due sequence, but having 

 been swept away, either prior to, or in consequence of, their disruption by 

 the disturbances indicated, when the deposition of the Triassic formation 

 commenced, the forms of life which characterized them are here wanting, 

 and the Mesozoic, which characterize the next vast epoch, have assumed 

 their places ? . . . 



" A glance at the great Lias outlier of Eobinswood Hill, looming up 

 from the centre of the vale, reminds us that since the changes we have 

 contemplated, others as remarkable have taken place ; for we recollect 

 that this rrust once have been conterminous and continuous with the Liassic 

 slopes of the Cotteswolds, which form the background of the landscape, 

 and flank it on the right. These, we know, are merely capped by beds of 

 the Inferior Oolite, the detritus and fossils of which, mingled with those of 

 the Lias, strew the valley from beyond Evesham to the quarry on the cliff 

 which we have already visited, evidencing action to which they have been 

 subjected, by which the deep combs and bays which indent them have 

 been formed. The recent origin of the gravels is apparent from the re- 

 mains of the great extinct pachyderms still found amongst them, and oc- 

 casionally the shells of mollusca still existing around us. 



"We have expressed some doubt as to the origin of the drift which 

 overlies these gravels, to which the epithet ' Northern ' has been expressly 

 applied, because, the further we travel south-westward, the heavier and 

 larger do we find the pebbles which constitute it become, and we may 

 reasonably suppose that the smaller detritus wanders furthest from its 

 parent rock. There may, indeed, have been an influx of similar material 

 at the other end of the valley, but from its sparsely-scattered condition, 

 and the minuteness of the fragments of which it is here composed, we feel 

 rather disposed to ascribe to it a south-westerly than a northern origin. 

 As compared with these drifts, the Severn Channel is of modern forma- 

 tion, for we see at this point that its bed is worn through them and their 

 underlying gravels, — a circumstance which the want of coherence, and 

 difference in the rock-materials here in juxtaposition, must have much 

 favoured. 



"Another feature of great interest in this district, to which our atten- 

 tion was first called by Mr. Clegram, is the existence of an extensive bed 

 of peat, in which are found trunks and roots of trees, principally oak, in 

 the ordinary state of what is popularly known as bog- oak. These may be 

 best seen on the sides and in the bed of the watercourse called the Royal 

 Drough, in the excavation of which they were first brought to light. They 



