Rev. A. Irving — On the Permian and Trias. 275 



formations becomes more pronounced : it may in fact be said now to 

 be at least as great as that which exists between the Bunter and 

 the Permian, in the most important (the north-eastern) area. In 

 Cheshire and in Shropshire, the massive series of sandstones so much 

 worked for building-stone, forms the base of the Keuper, but on the 

 east side of the Pennine axis these lower members of the formation 

 are only feebly represented. A definite " basement-bed " has, how- 

 ever, been traced of late for the Keuper, over a good por4iou of 

 Notts and Derbyshire, through the labours of Messrs. E. Wilson and 

 Shipman, whose papers appeared a short time ago in this Magazine, 

 and in the Midland Naturalist. The calcareous breccia (which is ia 

 places dolomitic) has been found, through the extension of build- 

 ing and engineering works, to be more generally distributed, than 

 was supposed a few years ago ; it has been found, in fact, capping 

 Bramcote Hill and the remarkable rock known as the Himlack 

 Stone, but a few miles west of Nottingham. The hard red con- 

 glomerate, the existence of which, on the east of Nottingham, was 

 indicated by the writer some years ago,^ has been traced over a pretty 

 wide area. These results have been accepted by Mr. Aveline.^ In its 

 calcareous, and occasionally dolomitic charactei", this basement bed 

 agrees with the lower members of the Keuper of Germany, where it 

 is closely related to the Muschelkalk, and where distinct calcareous 

 and dolomitic bands are of common occurrence.^ 



At this point it may be of service to remind geologists of one or 

 two interesting facts about the Muschelkalk of Germany, so that 

 the importance of the break between the Bunter and Keuper in 

 the northern counties of England may be fully recognized, and the 

 confusion of ideas favoured by the introduction of the name Trias, 

 which has led to the hope of finding the Muschelkalk formation 

 represented in England, may be eliminated from the subject. If 

 such a hope is still entertained in some quarters, it is worth while 

 to consider — 1. The discontinuity of Upper Bunter over the con- 

 glomeratic or middle series of that formation, and the frequent 

 evidences of local erosion and of unco nform ability, all pointing to 

 the elevation of a considerable portion of the English New Red area 

 in the immediate Pre-Keuperian age. 2. That the Muschelkalk 

 itself undergoes a marked change as it is followed in the direction of 

 the British area. This great formation, in parts of Germany where 

 it is fully developed [e.g. to the south of the Harz, in Thtiringia, in 

 Hesse, in North Bavaria, in Wiirtemberg, and in Baden), is made 

 up of the following well-marked members : — 



Upper Muschelkalk (' Hauptmuschelkalk '), . . thickness 50 — loO metres. 

 Middle ,, (' Anhydrite Group'), .. ,, 30—100 ,, 



Lower ,, ('Welienkalk') .. „ 60—120 



It assumes however to the west of the Ehine (in the Lorraine 



^ Vide Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. iv. 



2 Vide Mr. Aveline's Memoir previously referred to ; also the Geol. Mag. for 

 1881 (pp. 396, 523), and the vols, for 1880 (p. 308), and for 1879 (p. 352). 



3 Credner, El. d. Geol. (p. 510), and the Table on pp. 512, 513. 



