OF THE CARBONIFEROUS SERIES. 639 



Coal-nieasures has been recognized in Westphalia. In the district 

 of Werden, on the Ruhr, the dark shales of the Coal-formation have 

 yielded to Herren von Dechen and Lottner Goniatites earbonarius 

 and Aviculopectea papyraceus* . Lottner divides the Coal-formation 

 of "Westphalia into three stages (a lower, middle, and upper), possibly 

 corresponding to Stages E, F, and G of the British classification ; 

 and he shows that all the marine fossils belong to the beds lying at 

 the verge of the Lower and Middle Stages. Along with the marine 

 shells are associated Anthracosice, which in the middle Stage occur 

 in considerable numbers. Sections of the Lower series are laid open 

 on the banks of the river Mulde. 



B. Continental Equivalents of Stages A, B, C, and D. 



It will be quite unnecessary for me to describe at any length the 

 representatives of the divisions on the Continent subordinate to the 

 Lower Marine zone (Stage E) of the productive Coal-measures. The 

 reader will find an admirable summary of the views of continental 

 geologists in Murchison's ' Siluria ' f or Professor Renevier's Tables ; 

 and it is therefore only necessary for me to observe that they can 

 be recognized in various districts, though they are occasionally imper- 

 sistent. In the beds of sandstone (Flotzleerer Sandstein) of the 

 Rhenish provinces which underlie the productive Coal-measures 

 geologists are unanimous in recognizing the Millstone Grit of Eng- 

 land j, in which may probably be included the Yoredalc beds 

 (Stage C). This latter division, however, does not appear to occupy 

 a well-recognized position amongst the continental Carboniferous 

 beds. The Carboniferous Limestone of Belgium, which has been so 

 admirably illustrated paheontologically by M. de Koninck, is stated 

 by Murchison to rest directly on the Devonian rocks ; but it would 

 appear that the " schistes de Tournai " intervene, at least locally. 



Towards the banks of the Rhine this great formation gradually 

 changes its characters, and gives place to dark schists and bands of 

 limestone, with Posidonomya Beclieri. In this form it is represented 

 generally in Westphalia ; but in Silesia, Bohemia, &c. limestone 

 reappears. 



The lowest stage, A, is represented (according to Murchison) in 

 the Rhenish provinces by the " Kiesel-Schiefer " of the Prussian 

 geologists, which occasionally expands into a deposit of considerable 

 dimensions. In Belgium the " schistes de Tournai" appear to be the 

 representatives of this stage. 



The following Table is intended to show the representative conti- 

 nental beds, as far as our means of determination extend (Table I.). 



* ' Geognostische Skizze des westphalischen Steinkohlengebirges ' (1859), 

 quoted by Dr. Romer, loc. supra cit. 



t 4th edit. p. 401 ct seq. 



\ Greinitz, Fleck, and Hartig state that this formation occupies an interme- 

 diate position between the productive Coal-measures and the Carboniferous 

 Limestone in Westphalia and RheinlaucI, ' Steinkohl en-Formation Deutsch- 

 lands.' 



