Conglomerates, and Marls of Devonshire. 
45 
Weston Mouth to Beer Head they are gypsiferous ; and from the 
Axe eastward, variegated ; west of Budleigh Salterton they have 
neither geodes, nor gypsum, nor interstratified beds of Hght colour. 
Sandstones, again, are frequently repeated ; but it is in the Bud- 
leigh Salterton district only that the botryoidal and other grotesque 
concretions are developed by weathering. Between Exmouth and 
the Straight Point they possess colour phenomena distinguishing 
them from the arenaceous beds elsewhere ; nor would it be easy to 
mistake, the variegated beds of Torbay for those of any other 
portion of the series. In fine, by passing from Torbay to Charton 
bay we uninterruptedly ascend, bed by bed, from more ancient ta 
more modern times. 
Tt now remains to consider, very briefly, whether there may 
not be exceptions to the dogma that all strata were originally 
horizontal. There can be little doubt that the principle is per- 
fectly sound and trustworthy in almost every instance ; neverthe- 
less there are cases in which successive layers of detrital matter 
are thrown down so as to form a comparatively steep talus. Sir 
Charles Lyell states, that *' at the base of the Maritime Alps near 
Nice, a vast succession of slanting beds of gravel and sand may be 
traced from the sea to Monte Calvo, a distance of no less than 
nine miles in a straight line. The dip of these beds is remarkably 
uniform, being always southward or towards the Mediterranean, at 
an angle of 25^." * Calculated on the foregoing data, and in the 
manner previously explained, the thickness of these beds would be 
about 3-8 miles ; but, according to the author just quoted, " the 
vertical depth of gravel and sand in any one place cannot be 
proved to amount even to 1000 feet, although it may perhaps be 
much greater, yet probably never exceeding at any one point 3000 
or 4000 feet." Possibly something of this kind may have occurred 
in the formation of the Devonshire Trias, nevertheless I am not 
aware of a single fact on which to base such an hypothesis. But 
be this as it may, the facts which have been already adduced 
* " Elements of Geology," 6th ed., page 18, (1865). 
