16 
Mr. W. Pengelly on the Red Sandstones, 
thin laj^ers of Marl. There is no very decided order of succession, 
but, on the whole, the Sandstones may be said to preponderate. 
YN^herever the base of the formation is seen, however, it consists 
of very coarse Conglomerate, as in the outliers at the north end of 
Saltern Cove (see Fig. 1, in the Transactions " for 1861 — 2) and at 
the southern end of Goodrington Sands. In the fine section at the 
north extremity of the same sands, the lowest visible beds are 
of very fine Sandstone and the uppermost of Conglomerate (see 
Fig. 1). From Petitor, north of Torquay, to near Dawlish, the 
ciilfs consist of Conglomerates with a few beds of Sandstone. 
Occasionally a bed essentially Conglomerate contains a patch of 
Sandstone, and in some instances the same stratum is found to be 
pretty equally divided, one-half its tliickness being made up of the 
former while the other half consists of the latter only. 
Between Dawlish and Langstone Point, at the mouth of the Exe, 
Sandstones almost exclusively prevail, but Conglomerates reappear 
at Langstone ; and, on crossing the Exe, we find them again at 
Lympstone and Exmouth. At a short distance east of the latter 
they entirely disappear, and Marls, instead of being, as heretofore, 
very exceptional, form an important part of the clifi" section. 
It may not be out of place to remark here that the uppermost 
portion of the red cliffs in various parts of the district belongs, not 
to the Triassic, but to a much more modern, period. Thus at 
Hollacombe, between Paignton and Torquay, there is a considerable 
accumulation of coarse angular material ; and between Dawlish and 
the mouth of the Exe, as well as on the opposite side of that river, 
there are large deposits of gravel made up, amongst other things, 
of Cretaceous detritus. These overlying masses form no part of our 
subject, and must be dismissed with the remark that they have been 
laid down since the surface configuration of the district was essentially 
the same as at present. 
In the succession just given, a chronological order has been 
followed. From Torbay to the Flat Point we pass upwards from the 
base of the formation. It is, perhaps, worthy of remark that from 
Petitor to Teignmouth the coast runs about due north, thence to 
Langstone Point it gradually takes a north-easterly direction, whilst 
from Exmouth its course is nearly due east until reaching the Flat 
Point, which, as a narrow peninsula, trends southwards. In this 
strip of land we find a relic of beds which do not appear to be 
represented elsewhere along the entire coast ; they consist of a 
breccia of small, angular, almost black stones, in a paste of Marl 
and Sand ; the whole so very loose and inadherent that it is almost 
impossible to bring away a specimen of it. 
From Goodrington Sands to Hole Head, between Teignmouth 
and Dawlish, the Conglomerates are mainly composed of fragments 
of the Devonian rocks of the immediate neighbourhood ; limestone 
