Mar., 1892. 
PERMIAN BRECCIA OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 
57 
(13B.) A rather rliomboidal fragment, with rounded edges, of 
a greenish argillite, exhibiting well-marked scratches upon 
two adjacent faces and upon one end, the longest being over 
2in. There are, at least, four upon the end face, which 
measures quite 2in. each way, the sides being oin. long. 
This position is not easily explained on the hypothesis of ice 
action, and, on the whole, the marks remind me more of those 
made by other stones. (134.) A burnisher. Such striae as 
there are do not seem to me due to the action of ice. (137.) 
A specimen with haematite, on which, possibly, are faint, 
but very obscure, traces of plant remains; the striations 
might conceivably be slickensides, but certainly are not ice 
marks. (135.) A fine-grained felspathic grit. I see no signs of 
glaciation, but some pressure marks. (136.) A. fine-grained 
grit, of dull reddish colour, which has two or three parallel 
striae on one flat face, smoother and flatter at bottom than is 
usual with ice marks; that is, they are more like the rut of a 
wheel than the furrow of a plough. (138.) A fragment of 
rather hard, slightly micaceous, purplish slate, which has two 
flat faces, both striated—very like ice striae, but a little 
smooth at the bottom. 
While it is difficult to deny that certain of these 
markings may be striae which have been produced in some 
way or other by the action of ice, I am more than doubtful 
of others, and am not convinced that this explanation is 
necessary for any. The striae, however, could not in any case 
be relied upon to prove the existence of glaciers, for they 
could have been equally well produced by coast ice.* At 
the same time, the very angular character of many of the 
fragments, their size, and the great diversity which they 
exhibit, might fairly be brought forward in support of the 
hypothesis that ice had been one of the agents of transport; 
for instance, it is difficult to understand by what other means 
such boulders as those at Coton Park could have been brought 
to their present position. It must, then, be admitted that, 
even if we are unconvinced by the striae, the general evidence 
of the breccias of this Leicestershire district seems favourable 
to the idea that a rather low temperature prevailed in 
Permian times. 
* This, I find from a manuscript note, is Mr. Gresley’s opinion. He 
attributes the breccia to “a wasting away by frost, &c., of pre-existing 
rocks, the debris being accumulated on floe-ice, which broke up from 
time to time, drifted out into tranquil water, and dropped the 
fragments to the bottom.” 
