1871.] RAMSAX PEEXRIASSIC RED ROCKS. 247 



strata sometimes associated with bands of fossQiferous magnesian 

 limestone. No shells of any kind have been found in the so-caUed 

 Eothliegende of Lancashire, or in the Permian beds in the Vale of 

 Eden, while plants occur in the middle division of that series, as men- 

 tioned by Professor Harkhess. 



The evidence derived from reptilian remains in the red beds, 

 so far as it yet goes, is of the same kind as that afforded by the 

 Keuper sandstones. Fii'st we have Dasyeeps BucTclctndi in the 

 Permian beds near Kenilworth; next the footprints mentioned 

 by Professor Harkness in the red sandstones of the Vale of Eden, 

 as occurring at Brownrigg, in Plumpton, and near Penrith ; and 

 lastly the numerous footprints described by Sir William Jardine, 

 in the sandstones of Corncockle Moor and other parts of Dumfries- 

 shire, now universally believed to be of Permian age. All of these 

 prints indicate that the animals were accustomed to walk on bare 

 damp surfaces, which were afterwards dried in the sun before the 

 flooded waters overspread them with new layers of sediment, in a 

 manner that now takes place during variations of the seasons in 

 many salt lakes. Pseudomorphs of crystals of salt * in the Permian 

 beds of the Vale of Eden, and deposits of gypsum and peroxide of 

 iron, help to this conclusion, together with the occurrence of ripplings, 

 sun-cracks, and rain-pittings impressed on the beds. 



The remaining fossils that require to be considered in the red 

 sandstones and marls belong exclusively to marine genera. 



In Lancashire the Lower Permian red sandstones, which Mr. 

 Hull estimates as about 1500 feet thick on the banks of the Mersey 

 and Tame, are unfossihferous, and the Upper Permian strata, con- 

 sisting of red marls with bands of magnesian limestone, contain a 

 few true Magnesian-Limestone species, viz. Gervillia antiqua, Pleuro- 

 pJiorus costatus, ScMzodus obscurus, S. rotundatus, Turbo helicinus, 

 T. obtusa, Rissoa Leighi, JR. Gibsoni, Natica minima, and some 

 others f. They are all small and dwarfed, and in this respect and 

 the small number of genera they resemble the living molluscan 

 fauna of the Caspian Sea. 



In the true Magnesian-Limestone districts of the east of England 

 the case is different. There we find a more numerous marine mol- 

 luscan fauna, but wonderfully restricted when compared with that 

 of Carboniferous times. From Mr. Etheridge's unpublished lists it 

 may be roughly estimated as follows : — 



Brachiopoda. Camaroplioria 3, Crania 2, Discina 1, Lingula 2, 

 Producta 2, Spirifera 3, Spiriferina 2, Strophalosia 4, Terebratida 2 : 

 in all, 9 genera and 21 species. 



Lamellibranchiata, Aucella 1, Mytilus 2, Avicida 2, Gervillia 5, 

 Area 2, Gardiomorpha 1, Ctenodonta 1, Leda 1, Myalina 1, Myo- 

 concha 1, Pleurop>Tiorus 1, Edmondia 1, Astarte 2, ScMzodus 5, So- 

 lemya 4, Tellina 1 : in aU., 16 genera and 31 species. 



TTnivalves. Calyptrcea 1, Chemnitzia 1, Chiton 3, ChitoneUus 4, 



* Harkness, Quart. Joiirn. Geol. Soc. 1862, vol. xviii. p. 215. 

 t Taken from Mr. Hull's " Memoir on the Country around Oldham," and 

 corrected for generic names according to Mr. Etheridge's lists. 



