220 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [NOV. 4, 



ciation in 1854, and which have 

 been adopted by the Geological 

 Survey of Great Britain, I have felt 

 desirous of ascertaining whether 

 these subdivisions are represented 

 in Germany. 



As far, however, as the present 

 examination extends, there appear 

 to be no grounds for subdividing 

 the Bunter of the Odenwald. If, 

 in England, this formation presents 

 three successive stages, correspond- 

 ing to the same number of periods 

 in its history, — on the other hand, 

 in this part of Germany, if we are 

 to judge by uniformity of mineral 

 character, there have been no cor- 

 responding periods*. 



The Range of the Odenwald 

 forms a barrier to the valley of the 

 Rhine in a north and south direc- 

 tion. It is traversed by the deep 

 gorge of the Neckar, along whose 

 banks good sections of the Red 

 Sandstone of the Odenwald are ex- 

 posed to view, especially at Neckar- 

 steiner and Eberbach. Near the 

 mouth of the gorge stand the 

 castle and town of Heidelberg, on 

 a boss of granite, — one of those 

 isolated masses which frequently 

 protrude at the northern extremity 

 of the Odenwald, and in greater 

 force in the neighbourhood of 

 Freiburg. This granite consists of 

 several varieties, considered by Sir 

 C. Lyellf as corresponding to suc- 

 cessive periods of protrusion ; but 

 of its age, it can only be asserted 

 that it is earlier than the Permian, 

 and later than the Silurian epochs, 

 as in the former case fragments 

 of it are found in the breccias of the 



* Since the above was written, the 

 author has been informed by Sir R. Mur- 

 chison, that the German geologists have 

 lately established a threefold division of 

 the Bunter in other parts of Germany. 



f Elementarv Geologv, 5th edit, 

 p. 573. 



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