THE BASALT OF ROWLEY REGIS. 
181 
from the upper parts of the liills to the valleys, and on its 
reduction from roclie to mud. But if the items of the con¬ 
glomerate are nuclei, why do we not find them throughout 
the bulk of the marl, which is free from stones, either 
rounded or angular? We might say they have been washed 
out and collected by wave action, so as to form a beach or 
shallow bottom. That is possible, certainly ; but then in 
that case why should they have collected in the position in 
which we find them ? I must say that the little stones do 
not look like ordinary gravel, and though granting the possi¬ 
bility of their being nuclei, yet I incline to think they are 
pebbles ; they are peculiar in whatever light we view them. 
I have been told, when conversing with the owners, that 
fossils (molluscs) have occasionally been found in this clay- 
marl on the east side of the hills ; but I have never seen nor 
have I found any myself, though I have often spent an hour 
or two in the pits with this object in view. 
We see, then, that this clay-marl, which is used in the 
manufacture of our world-famous Staffordshire blue bricks, is 
a most interesting deposit, and unfolds a wonderful history— 
a history of fire and water, of tumult and repose. 
(To be continued.) 
ON THE PILOBOLIDiE, 
WITH A SYNOPSIS OF THE EUROPEAN SPECIES, AND A 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ONE.* 
BY W. B. GROVE, B.A., 
HON. LIBRARIAN OF THE BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY. 
Part I.—INTRODUCTION. 
Imagine an oval translucent vase of exquisite outline, 
carved from a single diamond, not indeed of the finest water, 
but brought from South African fields, tinged with a delicate 
yellow colour. Place beneath this a gracefully-curving slender 
stem, of crystal clear, and where they join let a circlet of the 
purest gold lie coiled within the tube. Then let a beautiful 
and limpid light radiate from every part. To enhance its 
effect, take a piece of the blackest jet, shaped into a perfect 
hemisphere. Polish its surface till it shines like a Venetian 
mirror, and gently poise this sooty crown over the mouth of 
* Transactions of the Birmingham Natural History and Micro¬ 
scopical Society. Read at a Meeting of the Society, April 17, 1883. 
