ON THE ERRATIC BLOCKS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 197 
mentioned to show that boulders exist over this district deposited at several 
ages. 
Al) Boulders of the earliest ice period. 
(2) Boulders of the period of submergence, in the lower parts of the gla- 
cial clays. 
(3) Boulders of the period of the reelevation of the land. 
These varieties have yet to be traced to their various sources; and upon 
this work members of the Committee are engaged. It is as impossible to 
assign all boulders to one epoch of distribution as it is to assign all glacial 
sands, clays, and gravels to one period. 
LEICESTERSHIRE. 
Mr. J. Plant reports both remarkable isolated boulders and groups of 
boulders, and records one remarkable fact of especial importance. Below the 
drift-clay, and quite distinct from the surface-boulders freely scattered over 
the county, a group of boulders has been exposed in an excavation made in 
the centre of Leicester, 25 feet deep, composed of rocks which Mr. Plant 
failed to recognize as British. This group, it is suggested, was deposited by 
a stranded iceberg. The fact of the existence of groups of boulders belong- 
ing to the earliest part of the glacial epoch and of foreign origin, points to 
the submergence of the Midland district in very early glacial times, and is 
worthy of detailed investigation. 
Mr. Plant states that he looked over hundreds of the blocks as they lay 
piled up on both sides of the roadway, and could not recognize one tenth as 
“Forest Rocks.” Many were dark hornblendic-looking masses, neither 
dolerite or diorite, but fibrous or slaty rather than granular. 
All these patches of boulders (and, in the instance reported, Mr. Plant 
registered five hundred blocks) are below the drift-clay, and quite distinct 
from the surface-boulders that lie all over the country, either on the surface 
or 1 to 3 feet below. 
(A) Isozarep BovuxpeErs. 
Answers. 
1. (1) In the “Johnstone Close,” one mile from Leicester, and near 
Leicester Abbey. (2) Parish of Humberstone, Leicestershire, on Kirby’s 
Farm. 
2. (1) In 1806 stood 7 feet above ground, now about 2 feet; depth in the 
ground unknown ; oval shape. (2) About same height. 
3. (1) Has been shaped roughly. (2) Rounded. 
4, (1) Upright on short end. (2) Cannot say. 
5. No striations seen on either. 
6. (1) May be Millstone-grit or may be Upper Keuper Sandstone; no 
rock near like it. (2) Syenite or granite from Mount Sorel or Buddon, 
Charnwood Forest, distance 6 miles N.W. 
7. (1) Known as the Little John’s Stone or St. John’s Stone. (2) Known as 
Hell-Stone. Both have legends connected with them, and one has a festival. 
8. (1) About 250 to 300 feet above the sea. (2) Ditto. 
11. (1) Has gravel-beds near. (2) Drift-clay. 
12. Bottom not seen, 
(B) Grovrs or BoutpErs. 
Answers. 
1. All Leicestershire. Potter’s Hill in Melton, Leicester; forest near 
Desford, Hoby, Ratliffe, 
