Lymm. 85 



in number, whence the name. But only the topmost and 

 lowermost exist in England.- The lowest is called by the 

 Germans " Bunter Sandstein," that is to say, "varie- 

 gated;" the middle one they call " Muschelkalk ;" and 

 the uppermost, developed in Cheshire, is the German 

 " Keuper," or copper sandstone, so denominated because 

 in Germany largely impregnated with copper pyrites. 

 These names have been adopted by English geologists, 

 because descriptive of the condition of things in a region 

 where the Trias is most perfectly exhibited. In geo- 

 logy, as in other sciences, names are founded on the best 

 examples. Cheshire is considered to furnish the best 

 example that we possess in this country of the Trias. The 

 total thickness is reckoned by Mr Ormerod to be at least 

 1700 feet, of which about 700, beginning from the top, 

 are composed of saliferous marls ; then come 400 of a 

 laminated kind, called "water-stones," while the remain- 

 der is believed to correspond with the German " Bunter 

 Sandstein."* Strata of the last named are frequent 

 about Manchester, and it is from these that the stone 

 used for most of our older public buildings was chiefly 

 excavated that of the cathedral, for example. Ordi- 

 narily they are concealed by drift layers of clay and 

 sand. 



The celebrated Storeton quarries, four miles south of 

 Birkenhead, those also at Weston-point, contain foot- 

 prints of the Labyrinthodon, with others left by tortoises, 

 * Quarterly Journal of Geology, vol. iv. 



