THE PERMIAN PERIOD. 583 



even the little pits made by drops of rain as they fell, are in this most 

 marvellous manner preserved, forming objects of wonder and admiration. 



The organic remains during this period are not very abundant, and 

 many of the fauna of the previous systems appear to have died out, while 

 others appeared to meet with fuller development in succeeding ages. The 

 Permian is also known as the New Red Sandstone, or Magnesian Limestone 

 group. " Bias" has also been suggested with reference to the "Trias" group, 

 " the Upper New Red Sandstone," which comes next. The Permian rocks 

 are very varied, and contain minerals, such as copper and sulphur. 



As the strata below the new sandstone formation was called the " Car- 

 boniferous" system, from its containing much carbon in the form both of 

 coal and carbonic acid, so this has been called the "Saliferous" system, from 

 the occurrence in many places of strata of " rock-salt," or crystallised chloride 

 of sodium, and (where the rain finds its way down and dissolves it) of brine 

 springs ; these (in England) exist chiefly in Cheshire and Warwickshire, but 

 in Poland and Hungary they exist on a much larger scale, the rock-salt 

 being nearly a thousand feet thick. It has been said that these strata of 

 salt were formed by the evaporation of salt lakes, but it is much more 

 probable that salt is one of the natural materials of the earth, and that both 

 salt lakes and oceans have become salt from dissolving out these strata 

 wherever they have come into contact. 



It is supposed that during the Permian period the greater portion of 

 the continent of Europe was raised above the ocean, and the deposits were 

 formed in salt lakes, for the appearance of the organic remains tends to 

 establish the fact that the creatures of that period were not far from dry 

 land even in their watery existence, and the reptiles found confirm this view. 

 We have now to examine the Mesozoic, or Secondary System. 



Dinotherium giganteum. 



