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JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 
drawing the conclusion, that the Irish “ fossiliferous dolomite” 
belongs to the highest member of the Permian system, as developed 
in the north of England. 
There are some intermediate localities, the geology of which is 
somewhat confirmatory of the view just advanced. At Collyhurst 
and some other places near Manchester, there occur some Permian 
beds, which, although not dolomitic, contain an exactly similar group 
of fossils as characterizes the upper members in Durham; and I am 
led to think, that they occupy a high position in the System. 
At Barrow Mouth, between St. Bees’ Head and Whitehaven, in 
Cumberland, there is a bed of magnesian limestone of a cream 
colour, 10 ft. 6 in. in thickness, similar to that at Cultra, overlying 
the coal-measures, and underlying the New Bed Sandstone. Fossils 
are extremely rare in this deposit; but it has yielded Mr. Binney 
“ casts of Bakevellia, Schizodus, and other shells.”* 
The parallelism which has just been made out between the Irish 
Permians and the uppermost members of the system in the north of 
England, I am strongly inclined to believe, may be extended into 
Germany; for I have elsewhere^ pointed out certain evidences tend¬ 
ing to prove that the uppermost Permian only (Stinkstein and 
Rauchwacke) in the Thuringerwald are marked by the presence of 
a few bivalves, and by the general absence of Bryozoons and Pallio- 
branchs. 
In conclusion, the discovery of Permian beds in Ireland is of consi¬ 
derable geological interest; and it may eventuate in vast industrial 
benefits. In England almost every stratigraphical group or “ sys¬ 
tem” occurring in central and northern Europe has been found; 
but in Ireland one interesting link in the chain is generally considered 
as being absent—the Permian System: this link, however, is now 
supplied. Further, in many parts of Tyrone and the adjoining coun¬ 
ties, there are beds whose relative position has long been looked on 
as doubtful; but the presence of a well-known Permian rock at 
Tullyconnel is highly calculated to settle their exact geological age. 
With reference to its industrial importance, there are several dis¬ 
tricts in the province of Ulster whose surface rock is a freestone, 
generally supposed to be the “New Red Sandstone,”—a formation so 
* Binney “ On the Permian Beds of the North-West of England.” 
f Monograph, “ Introduction,” pp. xvi. xvii. 
