Feb., 1892. 
PERMIAN BRECCIA OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 
25 
ON SPECIMENS FROM THE PERMIAN BRECCIA 
OF LEICESTERSHIRE COLLECTED BY W. S. 
GRESLEY, ESQ., F.G.S.* 
BY PROFESSOR T. G. BONNEY, D.SC., LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S. 
For some years prior to 1889 Mr. W. S. Gresley, F.G.S., 
liad been engaged in collecting specimens from the Permian 
breccia, in the neighbourhood of the Leicestershire coal-field, 
with the intention of writing a paper on the subject, in 
addition to that already published in the “ Midland 
Naturalist.”! 
From time to time he had consulted me on the microscopic 
structure of his specimens, and in 1889, on leaving England 
for America, he presented to me his whole collection, with 
nearly seventy microscopic slides and his manuscript notes, 
expressing the hope that I should be able to make use of the 
results of his labours. Continued pressure of other work has 
prevented me until recently from discharging the trust which 
he committed to me.J 
I have now re-examined all the specimens, and compared 
them with the notes made by Mr. Gresley or copied by him 
from memoranda which I had previously forwarded. It 
would have been unfortunate if the results of his long- 
continued work had been wholly lost, for Mr. Gresley’s 
collection was to a considerable extent made, not from surface 
exposures of the breccias, but from pit and well sinkings, 
cuttings, or other localities which are not permanently 
accessible. It is, however, to be regretted that the completion 
of the paper has fallen into the hands of one who, like myself, 
has but a very slight knowledge of the district. The specimens 
have been roughly grouped according to their petrograpliical 
characters, and those of igneous origin have been described 
first.|| 
* Read before the Birmingham Na tural History and Microscopical 
Society, November 17th, 1891. 
+ “ On the Occurrence of Fossiliferous Haematite, &c.,” “ Midland 
Naturalist,” Birmingham, 1886, Yol. IX., p. 1. 
J That it is now accomplished is largely due to the aid of a former 
student at University College, Miss C. A. Raisin, B.Sc., who relieved 
me of all trouble in arranging the specimens and notes, in looking up 
references, in checking the microscopic descriptions, and whose kind help 
as assistant and amanuensis I gratefully acknowledge. 
|| The reader of these notes must not forget to consult Mr. Horace 
T. Brown’s admirable paper on the “ Permian Rocks of the Leicester¬ 
shire Coalfield” (“Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,” Yol. XLY., p. 1), to 
which this may be regarded as a supplement. 
