346 R. 1. MuucHisoN, Esq., and H. E. Strickland, Esq., 07i the 



mon, &c., which we have been the first to describe, is the true equivalent of 

 the Keuper Sandstein; and that the sandstone of Ombersley, Bromsgrove, and 

 Warwick, is not the Keuper, but a portion of the Bunter Sandstein. In re- 

 spect to the Saurian of Guy's Cliff, which we have had no opportunity of ex- 

 amining, it is sufficient to state, that Dr. Buckland himself does not contend 

 that it is either of the species of the Phytosaurus (Jager) of the German 

 Keuper; and he hesitates even to refer it to that genus. Now the mere 

 existence of a Saurian in the Warwick sandstone proves nothing ; for geolo- 

 gists are well aware, that various species of the family occur in all the 

 formations, from the lias down to the magnesian limestone inclusive. Indeed, 

 as these animals are not unfrequent in the Bunter Sandstein of Germany, 

 we cannot avoid suspecting that the animal remains of Guy's Cliff may, if ever 

 accurately determined, be assigned to some of those species, mentioned by 

 M. Voltz and others, as occurring in the Bunter Sandstein, or German depo- 

 sits, which, from the other proofs adduced, we consider to be of the same age. 

 In concluding this sketch of the structure and contents of the two upper 

 formations of the New Red System, in the central counties of England, we 

 may observe, that in Shropshire and the adjacent parts of Staffordshire, where 

 these deposits have been described at length by one of the authors, the upper 

 marls, or Keuper, have been so much denuded, particularly near their junction 

 with the lias, thdt the peculiar band of Keuper sandstein which we have found 

 persistent in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire, has not yet 

 been met with. But, rising from beneath the whole of the marls, and appa- 

 rently separating them from the underlying massive sandstones, there does 

 exist a thin course of impure limestone, which, it is presumed, may represent 

 the Muschelkalk, and of which an account is given in Mr. Murchison's work*. 

 If this should really prove to be the equivalent of the Muschelkalk, the age 

 of the formation which underlies it, will be still more clearly established ; for 

 the sandstones of Cheshire and Shropshire, which there rise from beneath the 

 saliferous marls, as in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, correspond in mi- 

 neral structure with those which we have been describing, particularly in 

 containing, near their upper limits, courses of a stratum (sometimes 70 to 80 

 feet thick) of whitish or light-coloured sandstone, of which the celebrated 

 quarries of Grinshill, near Shrewsbury, and the picturesque rocks of Hawk- 

 stone, are good examplesf. These rocks are indeed identical with the sand- 



* The Silurian System, p. 36. 



f At Grinshill, eight miles north of Shrewsbury, where the rock is identical with the best build" 

 ing-stone of Leamington and Warwick, the mass of whitish coloured sandstone (80 feet thick) is 

 exposed, between a cap of red marly sandstone and a deep red sandstone of vast thickness, on 



