PERMIAN AGE AND CLOSE Otf THE PALAEOZOIC. 



great elevation of land which we know actually occur- 

 red ; and the existence of snow-clad mountains along 

 with volcanoes would be a union of fire and frost of 

 which we still have examples in some parts of the 

 earth's surface, and this in proximity to forms of 

 vegetable life very similiar to those which we know 

 existed in the Permian. 



With the exception of a few small and worthless 

 beds in Russia, the Permian is not known to contain 

 any coal. The great swamps of the coal period had 

 disappeared. In part they were raised up into 

 rugged mountains. In part they were sunken into 

 shallow sea areas. Thus, while there was much dry 

 land, there was little opportunity for coal production, 

 or for the existence of those rank forests which had 

 accumulated so much vegetable matter in the Car- 

 boniferous age. In like manner the fauna of the 

 Permian waters is poor. According to Murchison, 

 the Permian limestones of Europe have afforded little 

 more than one-third as many species of fossils as the 

 older Carboniferous. The fossils themselves also have 

 a stunted and depauperated aspect, indicating con- - ! 

 ditions of existence unfavourable to them. This is 

 curiously seen in contrasting Davidson's beautiful il- 

 lustrations of the British Lamp-shells of the Permian 

 and Carboniferous periods. Another illustrative fact 

 is the exceptionally small size of the fossils even in 

 limestones of the Carboniferous period when these are 

 associated with gypsum, red sandstones, and magne- 

 sian minerals ; as, for instance, those of some parts of 



