﻿118 Dr. Feist mantel — Bohemian Coal Fauna and Passage- Beds. 



from Vienna, and Herr Weiss in Berlin, came to see the Pilsen basin. 

 They had, of course, a very easy task, as they had already a great 

 amount of important papers for their guidance. 



As I have already mentioned, Herr Stur published in 1874 a paper 

 in the Verhandl. d. k. k. geolog. Keichsanstalt,^ which, however, 

 must be taken with precaution, as it contains a great many asser- 

 tions, mostly without proof; therefore Herr Stur must naturally 

 expect that, as he is not infallible, his views are open to objections. 



Herr Stur took, also, as I did before, the Rakonitz Gas-coal as 

 Permian, although, as I first proved (I.e.), the Flora above is Carbon- 

 iferous ; but for the Niirschan Gas-coal he has chosen another opinion, 

 and pronounced this Niirschan Gas-coal as parallel to one of the 

 " lowest Carboniferous horizons" in Bohemia. ^This was done with 

 such a degree of cei-tainty (but always without arguments) that my 

 conclusions on this subject seemed struck down, but fortunately 

 only for a short time. Herr Stur did well not to deal with the 

 occurrence of the animal-remains, which would certainly not have 

 fitted in with his well-made system in words. 



About the same time Herr Weiss, from Berlin,^ came to see for 

 a short time the Pilsen basin, and at once wrote a Eeport on 

 what " he had seen " ; in a letter to Prof. Geinitz,^ which is 

 signed by him and another gentleman, apparently as witness. In 

 this the Niirschan Gas-coal, certainly only from a superficial view, 

 is also attributed to the lowest Carboniferous horizon in Bohemia; but 

 the animal-remains were not considered at all, which, however, must 

 be absolutely done, to gain a correct idea of its relations, Mr. Weiss 

 on the contrary, in his note in Zeitschr. d. D. geol. Gesellschaft, 

 1874, p. 368, discussing my paper on the relation of the Permian 

 and Carboniferous in Bohemia, went so far as to say — when com- 

 paring the Niirschan Gas-coal with the Otweiler Series— that in the 

 latter no XenacantJius has been found, which, however, as Herr Weiss 

 thinks, is of no importance (I.e. p. 368 below), and yet he was 

 the first, who in his paper " Leitfische des Eothliegenden in den 

 Leebacher und aequivalenten Schichten des Saarbriickisch-pfiilz- 

 ischen Kohlengebirges,"* mentions Acanthodes, XenacantJius, Falceo- 

 niscus, etc., as the most characteristic genera for the Permian strata. 



A mining engineer, now lecturer in the Mining Academy at 

 Leoben, Herr Helmhacher, went still further, and endeavoured to 

 prove, ^ from the mineralogical relations, that this Nilrscham Gas- 

 coal is something like the English Bog-head Coal, and therefore also 

 of Lower Carboniferous age : "quod erat demonstrandum," thought the 

 gentleman. But the imagined victory of these outside observers was 

 only of short duration. 



First I have to notice the repeatedly pronounced opinion of the 



1 Momentaner Standmeiner Untersuchimgen liber die unsseralpine Steinkolilen- 

 forraation, April, 1874. 



■^ He writes notices and reviews under the signature, W. in Berlin. 



3 N. Jahrb. 1871, pp. 963-964. 



* Zeitschrift d. D. geol. Gesellscli. 1874. 



« See Verh. d. k. k. geol. Reichstlt. 1876, p. 213 ; N. Jahrb. etc., 1876, p, 104. 



