558 
Red Grit. — Immediately below the limestone, and uncon- 
formable to it (as may be seen at Knaresborough below the 
castle), is a bed of coarse red sandstone, with respect to whicn 
there is some doubt whether it should be assigned to the Per- 
mian or Carboniferous formation. The evidence seems to me 
certainly in favour of the latter formation ; as the red beds 
lie conformably and pass insensibly into the whiter beds 
below, which are of acknowledged carboniferous age. It caps 
most of the hills westward as far as Pateley ; and out of the 
lower beds the ancient sea-cliff of Brimham has been formed. 
The upper beds usually consist of red flaggy grits, lying 
upon a softish red or purple sandstone. Upon the surfaces 
or sides of the blocks of stone, and filling up the joints, are 
frequently sheets of calcareous spar, indicating the former 
presence of the Magnesian limestone, now removed by denuda- 
tion. The lower beds are harder, and are succeeded by other 
beds of white or brown grit. 
In some beds the grit is almost made up of rounded 
pebbles of quartz ; it also contains pieces of drifted wood, and 
shale from older formations. 
Quarries of this grit occur along the western edge of the 
magnesian limestone, at South Stainley, Scarah, Kettlespring, 
Cayton, Shaw Mills, upon the ridge near Grantley Lake, and 
at Fell -beck. It is largely quarried near Harrogate, at 
Birk Crag. 
Cayton Gill Beds. — Beneath the rough grit is an interesting 
formation consisting of three beds. The uppermost consists 
of thin flags full of the remains of Encrinites. The second 
abounds with the casts of Brachiopoda and other organic 
remains. The lowest is an exceedingly hard and fine sand- 
stone, mottled with carbonaceous markings, in which the 
most common fossil is Bellerophon costatus : it contains also 
pieces of drifted wood. The three beds occur not far from 
Fountains Abbey, on the side of the road to Sawley ; the two 
