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 have 
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 Eed Sandstone deposited 
unconformably against the upthrown Silurian and the Old Red, at Flaxley 
and elsewhere ; the Lias against the Old Eed 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 n ust 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 
