Prof. T. G. Bonney—Pebbles in the Bunter Beds. 407 
that we may refer them to the range of the Lickey—thus they are 
(probably) of Llandovery age.' 
Besides the above rocks, I have lately found several specimens of 
felstone: One, a reddish compact variety, with distinct traces of 
fluidal structure and small occasional crystals of quartz and felspar ; 
another, a rather similar but paler-coloured rock, with specks of a 
dark mineral ; a third, with larger crystals of pink felspar; a fourth, 
with fewer but larger crystals of white felspar ; and a fifth, with a 
dark ground-mass and crystals of orthoclase, inclosing black micro- 
liths. Some of these resemble rocks which I have obtained from 
Scotland, but I pass these by for the present with a simple mention. 
I have also found pebbles of flinty rocks, akin to Lydian stone 
and porcellanite, a dark schisty rock, with minute microliths of a black 
mineral (? tourmaline, of which mineral I have found needles in a 
quartz pebble), limestones and chert with casts of Crinoid stems. 
The last two are probably from the Carboniferous Limestone, from 
which formation also the galena may have come, which has occurred 
in the lower part of the pebble-bed.* 
Of these, and other inmates of the conglomerate, I hope in the 
course of a year or two to gather additional information. In conclu- 
sion, I will only venture on one remark with regard to the physical 
history of the Bunter, which, though probably not novel, I do not 
remember to have seen in print. It is now very commonly held that 
the Trias, in accordance with Prof. Ramsay’s view, was formed in an 
inland sea or lake. So far as regards the Keuper, I think this in the 
highest degree probable, but not as regards the Bunter. Its frequent 
false-bedding, the number and size of its pebbles, seem to point to 
the action of strong currents,® such as would only occur in an open 
sea or in the delta of a large river. The resemblance to the English 
Bunter of some of the red beds of the Lower Carboniferous group 
of Scotland (notably in Brodick Bay, Arran, where the same 
quartzites abound,‘ is most remarkable. The one is considered to be 
a fluviatile deposit, and why not the other? Thus, the Bunter beds 
of Central and Northern England may represent the deltas of two 
large streams descending respectively from the north-west and 
north-east, and receiving tributaries from land on either side. The 
Lower Trias of Southern England would be produced by a stream or 
streams from the Palzozoic land to west and south. Thus, in the 
latter district, there may have been a precursor of the Great Wealden 
river, just as there seems to have been in North Germany, and I am 
by no means sure, that even in the former district we have not some 
indication in Jurassic times of the rivers of the preceding period. 
1 Mr. S. G. Percival’s collection of pebbles from the Moseley district (in the Jermyn 
Street Museum) contains the following fossils: Orthoceras ? Cleidophorus amygdalis, 
Orthis redux, var. Budleighensis, Stricklandinia lyrata, Spirifera disjuncta, Glypto- 
erinus, Petraia (bina ?). 
2 Molyneux, Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1872 (Brighton), Tr. of Sect. p. 116. 
3 The average Staffordshire pebbles would require a current of about three miles 
an hour tosweep them along. Large pebbles (up to 6 or 8 inches in diameter) are by 
no means infrequent. 
4 Grou. Mac. Dec. II. Vol. V. p. 428. 
