8o 
Clay-balls, etc., from Banter Sandstone, Notts. 
Bunter sand-rock. Subsidence and accumulation of sand 
explains the subsequent burial and preservation of the ancient 
specimens. 
The properties of the clay or marl of which the balls are 
composed is somewhat peculiar. When first obtained, it is 
hard, and breaks with a sub-conchoidal and dicey fracture ; 
but if some small pieces be placed in water they verj' quickly 
precipitate into an incoherent powdery mass. If this be washed 
and boiled in Hydrochloric acid it yields a white amorphous 
deposit, mainly of silica, the proportion being 75 per cent. 
Also, most of the balls have a greenish -grey centre, and a 
thick, liver-coloured rind. The red rind contains 12 per cent 
of ferric oxide, and the grey centre from 3 to 4 per cent of the 
same oxide. 
These considerations may not exactly point to the source of 
the clay, but it is noteworthy that the Permian Marl, which is 
now being worked in the neighbourhood, for flower pots, etc., 
is exactly similar in all these physical and chemical properties. 
It is ‘ dicey ’ in character ; it falls into a powder when placed 
in water ; and when treated with acid it yields about 75 per 
cent of an amorphous residue. The Permian Marl is also 
dark red in colour, containing about 12 per cent of Iron oxide ; 
and there are green-grey bands in the rock which yield about 
four per cent, of the same oxide. 
From all this there is a strong temptation to suggest that, 
in Bunter times, an ancient cliff of Permian Marl existed close 
at hand, from which the balls originated. And yet there are 
no indications of a buried cliff of Permian Marl. In this dis- 
trict these marls lie buried beneath the Lower Mottled Sand- 
stone, and were there long before the Bunter Pebble Beds 
were formed. 
There is, however, another consideration which mav assist 
us. In the Bunter Pebble Beds of Nottinghamshire, it is 
common to find bands of marl a foot or more in thickness of 
quite a similar character to that of the clay-balls, and when 
these marl bands are seen in section they are generally found 
to be lenticular in shape. They were evidently deposited by 
stagnant waters in hollows of the surface after seasons of flood, 
and represent matter carried down in suspension. These 
marly sediments would be baked hard and subsequently buried 
beneath banks of sand. Other floods would tear up the earlier 
formed sand-banks, together with the lenticles of hardened 
mud, and some of this hardened mud would be rolled about 
and deposited amongst the pebbles, and again buried. Sub- 
sequent pressure has further moulded them into the pebble- 
shaped clay-balls, with the attached quartzites and other 
rock pebbles. 
The great similarity of the clay of the balls and the Permian 
Naturalist, 
