THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH. 



SECOND TRIASSIC PERIOD. 



315. The mineral character of this stage has been variously 

 denominated, red marl, keuper sandstone, and variegated marls. 



The effects of the perturbation which closed the Conchiferous 

 period are visible in the discordances of stratification, as well as 

 by the marked distinction* between the fauna and flora. 



The termination of the Conchiferous period was marked by the 

 destruction of all the existing species, animal and vegetable, of 

 which there were 107 species of Mollusca and Radiata alone. 

 With that period twenty genera ceased to' exist (314). The 

 next act of creation was signalised by the appearance of thirty- 

 five new generic forms, and the revival of fifty-nine, which pre- 

 viously existed. 



316. The outlines of land and water continued to be nearly 

 the same, but the seas were peopled with tribes different from 

 those of the preceding period. Three new genera of reptiles, all 

 of which were probably fluviatile, appeared. The seas possessed 

 two new genera of fishes and ammonites, and various other 

 Mollusca were now first called into existence, giving a special 

 character to the new fauna, which, with that of the first Triassic 

 period, seems to constitute a transition system from the Palaeozoic 

 to the Jurassic age. 



No remains of the terrestrial animals of this period have been 

 found ; but the land was certainly clothed with a luxuriant 

 vegetation, of which numerous species have been preserved, as 

 already mentioned, figs. 146, 147. 



317. Synopsis of the Animal Kingdom (exclusive of the Annulata) 



during the Second Triassic Period. 



64 



