1823.] Rothetodtliegende and Weissl iegende. 325 



if we pay due attention to its physical characters, and to its 

 relative position, affinities, and graduations, I know not how it is 

 possible to resist the evidence thus afforded, that it represents, 

 in its lowest position, the old red sandstone of English geo- 

 logists. 



The general characters of the beds composing the rothliegende 

 as consisting of conglomerate, breccia, sandstone, slaty micaceous 

 sandstone, indurated slaty clay, and clay marl, have been given in 

 the Annals of Philosophy for Aug. 1822, p. 84 — 86 ; and I there 

 adverted to their agreement with those of the old red sandstone 

 of Gloucestershire (and of the adjoining counties), and also of 

 that of Ireland. But no where is the analogy to be found 

 more complete in all its parts than in the old red sandstone of 

 Scotland, particularly that portion of it which borders the 

 northern side of the Scotch great coal tract.* I know no other 

 portion of the carboniferous series, with which the rothliegende 

 in its lowest position can be said to correspond so perfectly. 



With regard to the relative position and affinities of the roth- 

 liegende, the following extracts from Freiesleben may suffice. 



Vol. iv. p. 107, et seq. " The rothliegende is always 

 bounded on the one side by one or the other member of the 

 cupriferous shale tract, lying generally immediately below the 

 calcareous or new conglomerate (weissliegende) or the cuprife- 

 rous marl shale ; but its confines on the other side are less deter- 

 minate. Here it graduates principally into tracts of greywacke 

 and clayslate, or porphyry, accordingly as it reposes upon, or 

 forms basins in, one or the other of them."+ 



" In several districts, its immediate lower boundary is formed 

 by one or the other of these tracts ; but in some others a forma- 

 tion of coaly shale or coal is found interposed between them." % 



* See Dr. Boue's instructive description of the poudingucs ci 'gixs rouges of Scotland, 

 p. 102 — 119, of the Essai Geologique sur l'Ecosse; and compare it with Freiesleben 'a 

 description of the rothliegende, vol. iv. p. 73 — 137. The two descriptions agree so 

 perfectly as to answer nearly one for the other. 



+ To render the above paragraph perfectly clear to the English reader, it is neces- 

 sary to bear in mind that the red sandstone of the coal tracts of Germany, bears the name 

 of rothliegende as well as the fundamental portion of the carboniferous series, namely, 

 the old red sandstone. In point of position, the former might be partly compared to the 

 red sandstone found in some of the English coal fields, which, appearing at intervals, some- 

 times forms beds of great thickness and extent, dividing the more common coal bear- 

 ing strata from each other, and partly known by the name of pennant stone, e. g. in the 

 Gloucestershire south coal field. It is one of the peculiarities of several of the coal fields 

 in the north of Germany, that coarse red conglomerate and red sandstone are found fre- 

 quently alternating on a greater or smaller scale with the other coal measures, the former 

 partly resembling analogous beds in the fundamental old red sandstone. This is parti- 

 cularly observable in Lower Silesia, where a bed of coarse red conglomerate generally 

 forms the immediate roof of the coal seams ; a bed of slate clay of seven feet in thick- 

 ness being there a rare occurrence. See Von Burh, Geog. Beob. vol. i p. 90 and 101. 

 Also Freiesleben's description of the Opperode and Petersberge coal districts as quoted by 

 me in the Annals of Philosophy, August, 1822, p. 87 — 89; and Von Raumer in the 

 Annals of Philosophy, Oct. 1821, p. 248—250, and Aug. 1822, p.91— 93. 



% This observation requires attention, and will be duly noticed hereafter, p. 329. 



