1855.] RAMSAY PERMIAN BRECCIA. 185 



of any lines present in the rocks, whether of cleavage, of stratifica- 

 tion, or of striae of fusion, — following preferably those lines offering 

 least resistance ; and lastly, that there are considerable reasons for 

 supposing that the foliated rocks, even of Norway, may be chemically 

 altered fossiliferous strata. 



In conclusion, I have but to add, that, in laying these remarks 

 and observations before the Society, I have hoped that they might 

 not be altogether unworthy of notice, notwithstanding that they may 

 in some points differ from the views already set forth by very eminent 

 geologists. 



February 16, 1855. 



Annual General Meeting. [For Reports and Address, see the 

 beginning of this Volume.] 



February 21, 1855. 



Edward Hull, Esq., A.B., was elected a Fellow. 



The following communication was read : — 



On the Occurrence of Angular, Subangular, Polished, 

 and Striated Fragments and Boulders in the Permian 

 Breccia of Shropshire, Worcestershire, ^c. ; and on the 

 Probable Existence of Glaciers and Icebergs in the 

 Permian Epoch. By Andrew C. Ramsay, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Introduction. — The sedimentary strata which contain the frag- 

 ments of striated and polished rocks to which I am about to call 

 attention belong to the inferior portion of that which has been 

 defined as the " Permian Group " by Sir Roderick Murchison, the 

 true geological horizon of which in England was first explained by 

 Professor Sedgwick, in his celebrated memoir, *' On the geological 

 relations and internal structure of the Magnesian Limestone and the 

 lower portions of the New Red Sandstone series," &c. It is of the 

 last-named division of this series that they probably form a part. 



The speciality of the subject of this memoir scarcely requires me 

 to enter upon points connected with descriptive geology further than 

 may be needful to explain the true position of the Breccias alluded 

 to ; and the detailed sections subsequently given, having that object 

 in view, should therefore be considered chiefly as explanatory of the 

 general relations of the subdivisions of the Permian and Bunter 

 strata to each other. It is, however, proper to state that the 

 general position of the Permian rocks skirting the coal-fields of 

 North Wales, Coalbrook Dale, and Staffordshire was first indicated 

 in Sir Roderick Murchison's Map, published in 1839*. They are 

 there coloured as Lower Red Sandstone with subordinate calcareous 

 conglomerates ; and their lower boundary he defined by the outcrop 

 of the Coal, while the upper he shaded off into the New Red or Trias 



* ' Silurian System.' 



