in.] THE STONES IN THE WALL. 75 



district round Malvern, is, I am told, provably enor- 

 mous. Indeed, it is so overall Wales, North England, 

 and West and North Scotland. So there is enough of 

 rubbish to be accounted for to make our New Bed 

 sands. The round pebbles in it being, I believe, pieces 

 of Old Red sandstone, may have come from the great 

 Old Red sandstone region of South East Wales and 

 Herefordshire. Some of the rubbish, too, may have 

 come from what is now the Isle of Anglesey. 



For you find in the beds, from the top to the 

 bottom (at least in Cheshire), particles of mica. Now 

 this mica could not have been formed in the sand. It 

 is a definite crystalline mineral, whose composition is 

 well known. It is only found in rocks which have 

 been subjected to immense pressure, and probably to 

 heat. The granites and mica-slates of Anglesey are 

 full of it ; and from Anglesey as likely as from any- 

 where else these thin scales of mica came. And that 

 is about all that I can say on the matter. But it is 

 certain that most of these sands were deposited in a 

 very shallow water, and very near to land. Sand 

 and pebbles, as I said in my first paper, could not be 

 carried far out to sea ; and some of the beds of the 

 Bunter are full of rounded pebbles. Nay, it is certain 

 that their surface was often out of water. Of that you 

 may see very pretty proofs. You find these sands 

 ripple-marked, as you do shore-sands now. You find 

 cracks where the marl mud has dried in the sun : and, 

 more, you find the little pits made by rain. Of that I 

 have no doubt. I have seen specimens, in which you 

 could not only see at a glance that the marks had been 

 made by the large drops of a shower, but see also from 

 what direction the shower had come. These delicate 



