FOSSILIFEROUS HAEMATITE NODULES IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 35 
4 .—The Origin of the Hcematite .—Having described in 
general terms the leading features of these nodular frag¬ 
ments—namely, what they are, where they occur, 
whence derived, contents, both inorganic and organic, and 
other points, I will now endeavour, firstly, to show that there 
appear to me to be two ways of accounting for their origin; 
and, secondly, to state my grounds for accepting one in 
preference to the other, as being more in accordance with 
observed facts. 
It has been shown that these stones have been derived 
from, or occur in situ, in the brecciated conglomerate of the 
Permian series. From the character of the rock fragments, 
of which these beds are to a great extent composed, we 
naturally conclude that they were deposited at no great 
distance from a shore. The rock fragments are said to 
represent rocks from the West of England of the Silurian and 
carboniferous series. Professor Hull seems to have regarded 
the deposits as “marginal,” and Mr. Harrison says* they 
were formed along an old coast line, and were not brought 
from Wales as Sir A. C. Bamsay has supposed. 
There are also the following facts before us:—That 
the nodules are to some extent water - worn ; that they 
have been subjected to a considerable amount of rough 
treatment—abrasion, scratching, squeezing, &c.—before (?) 
coming to rest in the breccias ; that they present a great 
variety of forms, quality, mineral composition, and so 
on ; that they are of carboniferous (coal measures) 
origin or age, and therefore derivative. Now, do we find 
deposits or lumps of haematite in the coal beds of similar 
characters as these ? The writer knows of none. Haematite, 
however, does occur occasionally in these strata. The 
following instances may be cited :—At Pontefract, Yorks, 
nodules of haematite are stated to occur in one of the upper¬ 
most beds of the coal measures.! In the Cumberland coal 
field, Mr. J. D. Kendall, of Whitehaven, writes]: that in the 
upper coal measures, at Millyeat, near Frizington, haematite 
occurs in thin bands, interstratified with layers of clay or soft 
shale. This ore, in places, is as pure as any to be found in 
the district. In the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire 
* See Proceedings of the Birmingham Philosophical Society. 
Yol. III., “ On the Quartzite Pebbles contained in the Drift, and 
in the Triassic Strata of England,” p. 187. 
f See “ Memoir of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, 
Geology of the Yorkshire Coal Field,” page 757. 
I See Transactions of the North of England Institute of Engineers, 
Vol. XXVIII., Part iii., 187 ( J. 
