470 ME. B. D. OLDHAM ON THE [Aug. 1894, 



of whose moraine-material was preserved in the so-called Permian 

 breccias of the Midlands. 



In this way we come round again to a position not very much re- 

 moved from that of Mr. H. E. Blanford in 1875, 1 holding that the 

 Permian breccias are the English equivalent of the Indian Talchir 

 group. Whether or not this correlation, or the glacial origin of some 

 of the material of the Permian breccias, be accepted, this much 

 will always remain, that Sir Andrew Ramsay's paper suggested a 

 correlation of the Indian Talchir group which has since been 

 remarkably confirmed by the palaeontological evidence. 



IV. Conclusion. 



Before concluding this paper it may be well to summarize the 

 points contained in it, which are : 



(1) That the Permian breccias of the Midlands are subaerially- 

 formed stream-deposits. 



(2) That the material of which they were formed, though 

 distinctly waterworn, has not travelled far. 



(3) That the striations on the included fragments were, for the 

 most part, produced prior to deposition. 



(4) That the striations are of a nature such as requires steady 

 movement under great pressure to account for them. 



(5) That the agent to which the production of these strise can 

 be ascribed with most probability is a glacier. 



(6) That the character of the Indian and Australian deposits is 

 such that they can only be ascribed to the agency of floating ice. 



(7) That the age of these deposits is probably the same as that 

 of the English so-called ' Permian ' breccias. 



(8) That the proved existence of a period of exceptional cold in 

 India and Australia makes it less unlikely that glaciers may have 

 existed at the same time in England. 



The first six of these are independent of each other, and the 

 acceptance or rejection of one will in no way affect the rest. The 

 last two are more or less interdependent, and are at present as 

 incapable of proof as of disproof. 



Discussion. 



Prof. Lapworth said that he had listened to Mr. Oldham's paper 

 with especial pleasure, for the subject of the origin of these Permian 

 breccias was one of extreme interest to Midland geologists, some of 

 whom had already made known their general conclusions in various 

 communications at meetings of the British Association and else- 

 where. The detailed proofs of their conclusions would, he believed, 

 be given in Mr. Xing' s forthcoming paper, to which Mr. Oldham had 

 alluded. 



The Midland geologists had long since found it impossible 

 to uphold the original view of Sir Andrew Bamsay that the 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxi. 



