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liegdnde to those sandstones and conglomerates which surmount the 

 carboniferous series, and separate it from the kupfer-schiefer and mag- 

 nesian limestone. 



In describing the kupfer-schiefer and overlying limestones, zech- 

 stein, &c. the author cites M. Klipstein's late work on the Wetterau 

 and Spessart; and he confirms the conclusions already drawn by Prof. 

 Sedgwick in his comparison and identification of the same strata 

 with the magnesian limestone of England. 



New red sandstone series. — In this vast group the author, following 

 the classification of Humboldt, Hoffmann, and other modern writers, 

 points out that in Germany it is divided into three great systems; an 

 inferior and a superior red sandstone, each abounding in variegated 

 marls, the one separated from the other by that great limestone for- 

 mation called the muschelkalk. The lowest system or hunter sand- 

 stein being described first in general terms, detailed sections of it are 

 then given from Alsace, where the author found it to be capped by 

 muschelkalk, and charged with some peculiar plants, chiefly Coniferae 

 and Ferns, first discovered in it by M. Voltz, and since described by 

 M. Adolphe Brongniart : he likewise found in it many bivalve and 

 univalve shells, approaching very nearly in character to those of the 

 muschelkalk and superior formations, but, as well as the plants, 

 differing essentially from any fossils of the magnesian limestone and 

 inferior formations. The frequent occurrence of salt and gypsum is 

 noticed — numerous instances of great dislocations and elevations of 

 the beds are enumerated, particularly on the northern flank of the 

 Hartz — in the south of Hanover, a section across the Thuringervvald, 

 by a new road, is given — and places are cited where the red sandstone 

 is prismatized, in contact with trappean or igneous rocks. 



Muschelkalk. — This most important limestone formation, averaging 

 in thickness from 600 to 800 feet, is seen in Wirtemberg, Bavaria, 

 Gotha, and Hanover, to rest upon the hunter sandstein, and to be 

 capped by Iceuper. A triple subdivision of the muschelkalk, established 

 by Hausmann, is spoken of, in which each subdivision is characterized 

 by its peculiar fossils. 



For a full account of the muschelkalk of Wirtemberg the reader is 

 referred to Alberti's KonigsreicK s Wurtemberg, by which it is shown, 

 that all the salt-mines of that kingdom occur in this formation. The 

 Saurian remains found in it bv M. Jager consist of Plesiosaurus, 

 Ichthyosaurus, and an unknown reptile ; in addition to which Count 

 Miinster has procured from the same limestone the jaws and teeth of 

 a crocodile, plates of a turtle, many parts of fishes of new genera, &c. 

 By way of comparison with the muschelkalk of Germany, the author 

 gives a sketch of the same formation in Lorraine, where the fine col- 

 lection of M. Gaillardot of Luneville is specially spoken of, in which, 

 in addition to many Saurian remains, there are bones of gigantic 

 tortoises, with the characteristic fossils of the formation {Ammo- 

 nites nodosus, A. biplicatus, Mytilus socialis (Schlot.), Encrinites lili- 

 formis), and two species of the remarkable fossil called Rhyncolites. 



Keuper. — This formation of purple, red and green sandstone and 

 marls is stated to be of enormous thickness at Stuttgart, where it is 



