Vol. 58.} To THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THEIR AGE. 203 
strata) in less than one geological period is, to say the least, 
remarkable. 
Again, ice-action in any form postulates either a low temperature 
near the sea-level, or very high mountains. ‘The former must be 
intercalated in an epoch during which, so far as we can infer from 
fossils, the climate was distinetly warmer than it now is in Europe ; 
and for the same reason the mountains must have been very lofty, 
if they sent down glaciers to the sea. From this dilemma’ I see 
no escape, and I know not which horn is the worse. 
To conclude, breccias such as those described in this paper, though 
the last-named is more open to doubt, indicate a climate, arid, 
liable to extremes of temperature, with cold winters. The precipi- 
tation probably was connected with this season, and took the form 
of snow ; though in some cases, with a high mean temperature, hot 
summers” and occasional torrential raintalls, as in Sinai, might 
produce the same effects. In other words, these breccias are 
usually indicative of continental conditions, such as 
are at the present day rather exceptional. Thus in 
Permian, perhaps also in Triassic, times our Islands and Northern 
Germany must have been separated from any western ocean, either 
by a great extent of land or (more probably) by a mountain-region 
sufficiently broad and lofty to arrest the vapour on its passage, and 
the facts suggest that in the Rothliegende a rather abnormally low 
temperature prevailed. A recurrence of cold seems possible in the 
Upper Oolite; and if it did not also characterize the epoch of the 
Flysch, then we must admit that during this a great mountain- 
range existed in the immediate neighbourhood of the breccias. 
Discussion. 
Prof. Lapworru welcomed this paper as a most valuable contri- 
bution to a very important, but hitherto little-studied geological 
phenomenon. ‘The subject of breccias had for many years been of 
keen interest to geologists in the Midlands, because of the presence 
there of the much-contested Permian breccias. He was very glad 
to learn that the Author endorsed the views of Jukes and the Mid- 
land workers generally, that these breccias were in the main of local 
origin. It was, perhaps, a little unfortunate that Mr. Wickham 
King’s collective title of ‘Mercian Highlands’ might naturally be 
open to the interpretation that it was meant to suggest a connected 
* It remains no less difficult than when Sir Charles Lyell wrote a summary of 
what was then known, in his ‘ Principles of Geology’ vol.i, ch. x (11th ed. 1872). 
In New Zealand (western coast) the Fox Glacier comes within 670 feet of the 
sea-level, the mean annual temperature being 50° Fahr. In British Columbia 
(lat. 54° N.), with the same mean temperature, the ice reaches the sea. At the 
present day the Alpine glaciers do not descend to 4000 feet; but even if we 
assume more favourable conditions (as in those two countries) the mountain- 
range would have to be not inferior to that of the West-Central Alps. 
* Livingstone observed (‘Zambesi,’ pp. 429, 516) that about 12° lat. S. in 
Central Africa, with a range of temperature from 42° to 137° Fahr., sharp 
angular fragments, weighing trom a few ounces to a couple of hundred pounds, 
were broken off abundantly from the exposed surfaces of rocks. 
