Yol. 50.] PERMIAN BRECCIAS OF THE MIDLANDS. 471 



materials of these Permian breccias had been brought from the 

 Longmynd aud Caradoc regions by floating ice. They believed 

 that the facts ascertainable in the field indicated, on the other 

 hand, the general correctness of the view of Phillips and Jukes 

 that these fragments were derived from ancient Midland rock- 

 ridges, subsequently partly removed by erosion, and partly buried 

 up by overlying geological formations. But it had also been dis- 

 covered that the recognizable materials in the different patches of 

 breccia are so restricted in their local distribution that they do not 

 seem to necessitate the hypothesis of a Permian Glacial period for 

 their formation ; and the Midland geologists have been content 

 rather to regard them all as original or rearranged subaerial 

 deposits, like those described by Dr. W. T. Blanford and others as 

 occurring in Central Persia and elsewhere, and to interpret them as 

 phenomena of one of the natural phases in the general Continental 

 conditions indicated by the Permo-Triassic deposits of Britain as a 

 whole. It was very gratifying to learn that Mr. Oldham, who was 

 so familiar with deposits of this character abroad, agreed generally 

 with the Midland geologists in their interpretation of these facts, 

 and as to the probable local origin of the materials of the breccias. 



The Midland geologists, however, having relinquished the general 

 theory of the derivation of the materials of the breccias from a 

 distance, and well aware of the fact that some of the patches show 

 evidences of local dislocation, had been afraid to place much reliance 

 upon the evidences of markings and scratches upon the fragments 

 themselves ; and Mr. Oldham's paper would do good in calling the 

 very careful attention of local geologists to these curious phenomena. 

 It was by no means impossible that some of the Midland ridges, 

 whence these fragments were derived, were of great height in 

 Permian time, and may, indeed, have nourished small glaciers. 



As respects the Lower Gondwana series, which had been paralleled 

 with these Midland deposits, he thought that the original suggestion 

 of Mr. Drew that deposits of such enormous thickness indicated the 

 simultaneous existence of mountain-chains in their immediate 

 neighbourhood, and consequently the existence of local glaciers, was 

 worthy of careful consideration. But it was extremely significant to 

 find that Mr. Oldham, who had personally studied these Permian 

 strata in India and Australia as well as in Britain, was so com- 

 pletely in accord with those who held that they gave evidence of a 

 Permian Glacial period ; and he could assure the Author of a 

 hearty reception from Midland geologists, should he find it advisable 

 to continue his researches among the striated stones of the Midland 

 breccias. 



The Author, in reply, said that he recognized the existence of 

 scratchings due to earth-movements, but that apart from these there 

 appeared to be others to which this explanation was inapplicable. 

 His principal object had been to point out the great difference 

 between the Permian breccias of the Midlands arid the Upper 

 Carboniferous glacial deposits of India and Australia. 



