14 
distinguish both the upper and lower keuper, are the labyrinthodont 
reptiles, of singular uncouth form and anatomical structure, most 
nearly allied to the recent aquatic salamander. In the upper Keuper, 
the only evidence afforded of their existence are the impressions of 
their footsteps as they crawled over the mud of the Triassic sea. These 
are plentiful at Shrewley; and a much larger footprint was discovered 
near Preston Bagot. These belong to three genera, Labryinthodon, 
Cheirotherium, and Rhynchosaurus. But in the lower division, many 
remains of these singular reptiles have been met with, belonging to 
several genera, chiefly from Coten-end, Leamington, and Cubbington. 
These consist of various jaws with teeth, single teeth, vertebrae and other 
bones, especially cranial bones, but no entire skeleton has yet been 
procured in the new red sandstone in this country. These 
remains indicate animals of no very gigantic proportions, though 
the large footprints do; and in Germany an entire cranium was 
found, which must have belonged to a salamandroid reptile 
of enormous dimensions. If the footsteps which were lately - 
obtained from a quarry at Emscote belong to the lower Keuper, 
this is the first instance I believe of their occurrence in that division ; 
though, considering the frequent traces of their skeletons, none of 
which, or very rarely, have been met with in the upper, it is rather 
singular that they should not have been found before. In some of the 
sandstones and pure marly beds in the upper Keuper, fragmentary 
and very imperfect remains of plants occur both in Warwickshire and 
Worcestershire, the only evidence we haye of the existence of land 
during this epoch. In Germany, however, there is a large flora, and 
much better preseryed. It is supposed that the sea in which the New 
red Sandstone was deposited, formed a vast inland lake, like the Cas- 
pian of the present day; still, the absence of shells and the scarcity 
of fish, and indeed of fossils generally, is not so easily accounted for. 
This formation is of great economic importance, from the quantities of 
salt and gypsum which are obtained from it. In England it attains a 
thickness of 2,500 feet, though not reaching that amount probably in 
Warwickshire. The red Sandstones of Coventry and Kenilworth have 
been assigned to the Permain, a formation which succeeds the 
Triassic, and contains a much richer store of the animal life of the 
period, and very distinct from those which mark the previous one. 
In Warwickshire it consists of thick bedded red Sandstones, which 
are well seen in the extensive quarries at Kenilworth, Meriden, and 
near Coventry, and are much used for building. It occupies a con- 
_ siderable area in this part of the county, but less than the Triassic 
system. In lowering the road at Allesley some years ago, many 
broken trunks of large trees were found in the sandstone, evidently 
the remnant of an ancient forest, which must have flourished there 
when the rock formed the dry land, and was afterwards suddenly 
submerged. The grayel pits in the neighbourhood are full of frag- 
ments of this wood, and it is from this source that the pieces of wood 
belonging to the conifers are derived, which abound in the gravel at 
Warwick, and also in the glacial drift described at the beginning of 
this paper. At Exhall some bivalve shells were found, and a large 
calamite, but the pit is unfortunately closed: At Coventry, a large 
