PEEMIAN ERA. REPTILES. 59 



* 



be admitted for strict truth, that in some parts of Europe the 

 carboniferous formation is followed by superior deposits, 

 without the appearance of such disturbances between their 

 respective periods ; but such cases apparently are exceptive. 



PERMIAN EEA. REPTILES. 



IN this subordinate manner may be noticed a short series of 

 strata, following, whether conformably or otherwise, upon the 

 carboniferous formation, and to which a general name has been 

 applied, from its being unusually well developed in the por- 

 tion of Russia which formed the ancient kingdom of Permia. 

 This sub-formation comprehending in ascending order a 

 group of sandstones, called with us the Lower New Red Sand- 

 stones, and amongst the Germans Rothe-todteliegende 1 a thick 

 calcareous bed called with us the Magnesian Limestone, by the 

 Germans Zeclistein, and some other strata is, in respect of 

 fossils, a continuation of the carboniferous system. With it, 

 however, ends a range of animal forms which first appeared in 

 the Silurians, and passed, with the changes which have been 

 indicated, through the Devonian and Carbonigenous eras. 



The total number of specific forms, which had been dimi- 

 nishing in the carbonigenous era, is in this still further reduced ; 

 one recent author says, from about a thousand to a hundred 

 and sixty-six, of which only eighteen are common to the in- 

 ferior strata. 2 It appears as if, while some new species con- 

 tinued to present themselves, the animal kingdom was now 

 generally undergoing a decay, for even specimens of particular 

 families are less abundant than formerly. Instead, for ex- 

 ample, of the hundred species of corals of the carboniferous 

 formation, there were now only fifteen, and of these but three 

 or four abundant. Of the numerous crinoidea of the past, but 

 one now remained, and this is rarely found. The trilobite has 

 now vanished, to appear no more. For hundreds of brachio- 

 pods, there were now only thirty, ten of them old. The 

 cephalopods almost disappear at the very commencement of 

 the Permian era. 



It cannot at present be determined whether this diminution 

 of fossils is owing to an actual reduction of the amount of life 



1 Literally Red Dead Liers ; that is, strata of red colour, having no 

 remains of living things in them. 



2 Murchison's Geology of Russia in Europe. 



