THE ANKER VALLEY AND ITS FLORA. 
69 
beneath strata, as the Triassic, for instance, or where beds 
intervened between the red Permian and the red Trias, whose 
oontents do not exhibit iron staining, and which we 
naturally suppose would have been so stained had such 
conditions obtained as those we have just been considering. 
In the lower divisions of the Bunter (the conglomerates and 
sandstones of the Leicestershire areas), we find comparatively 
little iron staining, and therefore I have come to the con¬ 
clusion that the haematites, &c., have been formed from iron 
from the first in the Permians themselves. I have supposed 
that the waters of this remarkable geological period were 
deeply charged with iron in solution—carbonate of iron. (I 
refer to the Permian area of the Midland counties only.*) It 
might, however, be said in explanation of the way in which 
the iron became so abundant in the breccias, that as the 
coal measures lying immediately beneath them would, by 
reason of their argillaceous character, be practically imper¬ 
vious to water, and that thus arrested in its descent through 
the Triassic beds which are pervious, the carbonate of iron 
in solution would be carried down through, and probably out 
of those beds, and coming to rest upon the coal strata would 
there gradually be changed into an oxide of iron and act 
upon the breccias in such a way as during long ages would 
ultimately so alter the original character of its rock fragments 
as to make it very difficult for us to explain their previous history. 
This question, viz., During what geological period did 
the alteration of the nodules take place ? is, of course, a 
speculative one, and a point extremely difficult to prove, and 
until similar ironstones have been found in situ in the coal 
measures, the solution of this problem must, I think, remain 
in statu quo. 
(To be continued.) 
NOTES ON THE ANKER VALLEY AND ITS FLORA. 
BY JAMES E. BAGNALL, A.L.S. 
(Continued from page 58.) 
One of the striking features connected with the flora of 
the Anker is the rarity or absence of heath-loving plants. 
And this because there is abundant evidence of the district 
having in former times been to a great extent moor or heath 
* “ Contributions to the Physical History of the British Isles,” by 
E. Hull, M.A., F.R.S., &c., 1882, p. 91, and Plate VIII. 
