328 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



the Germanic inland sea, which was cut off from the outside 

 ocean during the greater part of the Trias, and is character- 

 ized by a distinctly provincial fauna. But even this sea was 

 not always a closed basin, for Dr. A. Tornquist (35 and 36) 

 has shown that during the time of the upper Muschelkalk, 

 or Buchenstein beds, a connection was established tempo- 

 rarily with the open sea, or Tethys, permitting emigration of 

 Ceratites nodostis from the basin into the waters of the 

 southern Alps. In its new surroundings this species varied 

 until it gave rise to several new varieties or mutations, but 

 all distinctly recognizable as belonging to the group of 

 Ceratites nodostis. This discovery first enabled the certain 

 correlation of the Alpine and Germanic upper Muschel- 

 kalk, for up to this time the Buchenstein beds and their 

 equivalents all over the world had been considered at the 

 bottom of the Upper Trias. This revision affects not 

 merely the Alpine province, but also the beds of Japan and 

 western America, where similar faunas are found. 



Among the most characteristic features of this region is 

 the prevalence of Tirolitinae in the Lower Trias, while 

 members of this group are unknown in this time in any 

 other region. The same thing is true of the occurrence of 

 Himgarites, which was common in the Mediterranean 

 region from the upper Permian onward, reached India in 

 the Lower Trias, but did not appear in the other regions 

 until near the beginning of the Middle Trias. Among the 

 negative characteristics may be noted the absence, during 

 the Lower Trias, of Fleiningites, Ofhiceras, and Otoceras. 



These differences did not persist throughout the Musch- 

 elkalk, for Himgarites made its way into the outer 

 regions, and Meekoceras became common in the Alpine 

 province, although by this time the genus had undergone 

 many modifications, and was represented at least by dif- 

 ferent subgenera. 



In the various provinces of the Mediterranean region, the 

 three subdivisions of the Trias are very unequally repre- 

 sented. Distinctive cephalopod faunas of the Lower Trias 

 are known only in the Alpine province, in the Balkan 



