﻿18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 6, 



in the middle of that which geologists have termed the carboniferous 



system. 



M. de Verneuil has recently acquainted me, after an examination 

 of the succession of palaeozoic deposits in the department of the 

 Sarthe, that he does not now believe there is any coal in the widely 

 developed Devonian tracts of that region. The uppermost member 

 of those Devonian rocks or limestones, loaded with fossils, is sur- 

 mounted by sandstones, schists, and beds of anthracite (Vire, Sable, 

 &c). The limestone, into which these graduate, contains the Pro- 

 ductus gigas, Chonetes cojnoides, and many other well-known forms ; 

 and this rock is covered by other schists also anthracitic. Now, 

 these carboniferous schists, sandstone, and limestone, are perfectly 

 conformable to the inferior palaeozoic rocks, viz. Devonian, Upper 

 Silurian, and Lower Silurian ; although according to geologists they 

 are all unconformable to the overlying coal-field of St. Pierre la Cour. 

 It is this break under the coal which, according to M. Elie de Beau- 

 mont, accords with the elevation of the " Ballon d' Alsace." 



The accumulation of clear fossil evidence from various regions will 

 I trust now prevail, and induce all geologists to admit, that the dis- 

 tribution of animal life and the chronology of ancient races by no 

 means accord with the former physical revolutions of the surface. 

 Thus, there is no zoological change more complete and absolute in 

 the whole succession of deposits, than that which is seen when we 

 examine the summit of the palaeozoic rocks, or Permian system, and 

 compare its contents with those of the overlying Trias * ; and yet in 

 every well-known tract of Europe, these two deposits are conformable, 

 though their imbedded animals are toto ccelo distinct. On the other 

 hand, whilst many of the Permian Producti approach closely to car- 

 boniferous types, there has been in many countries a great break be- 

 tween these two deposits. 



In Britain there has been no general severance between the lower 

 and upper members of the carboniferous series; and hence we possess 

 a very full and copious development of all its middle portion. We 

 now further learn why the representative of that portion is absent in 

 some tracts of France, and all those parts of the Continent where 

 nature's deposits have been interrupted. There, after a deposition 

 of lower carboniferous strata, powerful outbursts of porphyry and 

 other igneous rocks took place, occasioning a great dismemberment 

 of the pre-existing formations, and occupying that time which in more 

 quiet regions was spent in the tranquil accumulation of strata (such 

 as the millstone-grit, &c.) which underlie the great supplies of En- 

 glish fuel. 



Referring then to data I have previously furnished, to prove that 

 no fractures in the crust of the globe are so general as to constitute a 

 true groundwork of classification, I offer this contribution from the 

 banks of the Sichon in support of my views. 



* See Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, vol. i. p. 204. 



