1865,] SANDBEKGEE BADEN AND FEANCONIA, 435 



"Whilst in Baden we find Sig'dlaria and other coal-producing plants, 

 accompanied by very thin beds of coal, the floras of the other places 

 contain no Slgillaria, no Lepidodendron, and no beds of coal ; but, 

 on the other hand, besides the well-known species of the true Coal- 

 formation (Neuropteris Loshii, Splienopteris irregularis, Annularia 

 longifolia, Cyatheites Miltoni, Sfc), we find some new species of great 

 interest, namely, at Oppenau, a PterophyUum (P. Blechnoides, Sand.), 

 three feet long, and at Geroldseek a Palm, which is closely allied to 

 the living genera Trithrinax and Carludovica of tropical America. 

 The great PterophyUum is a new proof of the close connexion be- 

 tween the Triassic and Palaeozoic Floras, to which may properly be 

 added the discovery of a true Schizopteris in our Letten-coal, near 

 Wiirzburg*. I have frequently had occasion to observe that this 

 connexion is perceptible in the Triassic Fauna to a much greater 

 extent than has hitherto been supposed. 



The New Red Sandstone (Rothliegende) of the Black Forest has 

 also been fully described in all its details in the two memoirs above 

 mentioned. I divide it into three series (etages), as follows : — 



1. Lower beds : granitic or gneiss-conglomerate, without pebbles 

 of quartz or porphyry, but, on the other hand, with intermediate layers 

 of black, green, or red clays (EstJieria tenella, Ganychonyx ?, Odon- 

 topteris obtusiloha, Cordaites Ottonis, and G. Mosslerianus, &c.). 



2. Porphyry, breccia, and conglomerate. 



3. Granitic or gneiss-conglomerate, with nests or beds of brown 

 dolomite, and deep red Cargneule (Karneol). 



On the borders of the middle and upper series I have also found, 

 after many years' search, fossil plants near Baden Baden — Walchia 

 piniformis and Odonfopteris obtusiloha. From these observations we 

 may conclude, that in the Black Forest only the lower member of 

 the Permian or Zechstein formation occurs, whilst near Heidelberg- 

 higher members are also developed. 



Trias. — I had for many years, both in Carlsruhe and in other places, 

 explored the Swabian development of the Trias, so accurately repre- 

 sented in Alberti's excellent monographs, and particularly in the lastf ; 

 and I had made many detailed sections, when I was compelled to re- 

 move to Wiirzburg. Here I came upon the widely different Thiiringer 

 type, which, as far as I am now able to judge, completely thins out in 

 the lower Tauber valley. I do not know anywhere in Germany a richer 

 and more perfect development of the Wellenkalk, the Muschelkalk, 

 and the Letten-coal group than in Franconia. Moreover, the great 

 clearness of the stratification leaves no doubt respecting the sequence 

 both of the beds and the faunas. I have thus been enabled in a short 

 time to complete a comparison of the Thiiringian and Swabian types 

 by my observations near Wiirzburg, which the Society will shortly 

 receive. 



The most important result is the discovery of the Fauna of lle- 

 coaro and Mickelschiitz in the middle "WeUenkallv, the true position 



* I have given a description and engraving of the plants in a notice of them 

 ah'eady forwarded to the Society (1864). 

 t Sketch of the Trias of Stuttgart, 186J:. 



