298 
its extension in this dii'ection was at one time much greater 
than at present. Periods of denudation have since occurred, 
and the immense quantities of pebbles and boulders of 
Limestone, rounded and water-worn, existing in the 
deluvium of the Ouse Valley, testify to the great extent 
of its abrasion. It may, perhaps, be possible that the 
initial direction of the water- courses, which cut through 
the Limestone escarpment in an easterly direction, may 
have been received when the country to the westward had 
a very different contour to its present one — in which case 
this seeming anomaly might be much simplified. 
The tract of country covered by the Permian Limestone 
is peculiarly beautiful. Its rich soil affords nourishment to 
innumerable orchards, and a variety of flowering plants grow 
here which cannot subsist elsewhere in the Riding. Truly 
this may be called the ''Garden of Yorkshire.'* Richly 
wooded and gently undulating, its park-like appearance has 
been seized upon by the nobility for centuries, and the 
numerous mansions which crown its eminences or lay half 
hidden on its wooded slopes give a peculiar interest to the 
district ; whilst its ruined castles and keeps force a crowd of 
historical associations on the mind, rarely equalled in so small 
an area. 
(5) THE JUNCTION OF THE PER:NriAN LIMESTONE WITH THE 
UNDERLYING FORMATIONS, AND THEIR UNCONFORMABILITY. 
Having thus briefly glanced over the more salient features 
of the Carboniferous Rocks and those of the Permian, I 
propose analysing such evidence as may be derived from 
sections exposed along the Western Escarpment of the 
Limestone, and deducing therefrom sufficent proof of the 
unconformability of the two series of rocks, and of the ab- 
sence of any sandstone which can be considered the equiva- 
lent New Red Sandstone, or Rothliegende of the Germans. 
