236 Reports and Proceedings — 



paper, as are also others at Gumpelstadt, N.E. of Salzungen, and in 

 the neighbourhood of the Lower Warth. In the latter locality the 

 red shales and thin-bedded sandstones are stratified around highly 

 inclined strata of Plattendolomit and a i-eef of Eauchwacke (Middle 

 Zechstein), The relation of the Bunter to the Zechstein as it is 

 exhibited at Gopelskuppe near Eisenach is also noticed, and refer- 

 ence is made to the accurate demonstration of it by J. G. Bornemann 

 (Jahrb. d. k. preuss. geolog. Landesanstalt, 1883), as well as the 

 description of it in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xl. p. 303 et seq. 

 by the translator. 



From the evidence cited, the author concludes that the so-called 

 Tipper variegated shales and thin sandstones of the Saxon and 

 Prussian maps, which correspond to the Bunterschiefer of Murchi- 

 son, belong not to the Zechstein, but to the Bunter Sandstone, so 

 that " an impoi'tant member of the Permian Formation (in Murchi- 

 son's sense) is taken away, and there remains of that Palaeozoic 

 Trias, which that deceased author defined as his Permian, only a 

 dual system or Dyas." 



2. The Lower Limit of the Zechstein Formation. — Wherever a com- 

 plete development of the Marine Zechstein Formation is exhibited, 

 the Weissliegende (Grauliegende, Zechstein Conglomerate of Beyrich) 

 forms the lowest member. This stratum, varying in thickness from 

 a few centimetres to several metres, contains an extraordinary marine 

 fauna, among which are found as characteristic species, Productus 

 Cancrini (de Vern.), Strophalosia Leplayi (Gein.), Bhynchonella 

 Geinitzi (de Vern.), and Pecten sericeus (de Vern.). Thus the Weiss- 

 liegende is distinguished principally from the Eothliegende, the 

 nature of which is determined by association of the littoral character 

 of its sedimentary materials with eruptive rocks. Freiesleben, Dr. 

 Liebe of Gera, Dr. Senft of Eisenach, and other writers are quoted 

 in support of this view. 



The position of the upper Eothliegende as a lateral equivalent in 

 some localities of the true Middle and Lower Zechstein is touched 

 upon, and its occurrence in relation to the latter on the north-west 

 side of the Thiiringerwald is pointed out (see Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc. loc. cit., and Senft, Zeitschr, d. deutsch. Geol. Gesellsch. Bd. x. 

 p. 333, Taf. ix. fig. 9). " The opponents of this view," adds Geinitz, 

 " have hitherto offered no explanation of the facts observed." 



3. The Lower Boundary of the Dyas in General. — Where the 

 massive grey conglomerate of the Lower Eothliegende, or the ante- 

 porphyritic stage of Naumann, overlies the Coal-measures unconform- 

 ably, as it does in the district of Zwickau and other places in the 

 basin of the Erzgebirge, the boundary between the Dyas and the 

 Carboniferous appears very clearly defined. In other jDlaces, as in 

 the Plauenscher Grund near Dresden, where the discordancy is less 

 pronounced, the grey conglomerate zone still rests upon the eroded 

 surfaces of the previously indurated Coal-measures, in such a manner 

 as to remind us of the waj' in which the eroded strata of the Platten- 

 dolomit are overlain by the thin strata of the Bunter. In some 

 places the massive Brandschiefer (bituminous shales) overlie the 



