ESTHERIA MINUTA. 



53 



a somewhat narrower outline than is usual with E. minuta. See PL V, fig. 9. This may 

 be the form indicated by Voltz as Pos. Albertii ; if so we may distinguish it as E. minuta, 

 var. Albertii. 



The occurrence of Estheria minuta at two horizons in the Triassic Series of the Lower 

 Rhine, is clearly indicated by Prof. A. Daubree in his admirable ' Description Geologique 

 &c. du Departement de Bas-Rhin,' 1852. 



M. Daubree lias courteously replied to my inquiries respecting the Estherian strata of 

 Alsace, and put me in communication with Prof. W. P. Schimper, who has obligingly 

 favoured me with specimens and information. 



In the district referred to, the Triassic strata, underlying the " Lias Sandstone with 

 bones of Reptiles and Pishes," are thus enumerated : 



Mavis and dolomites, alternating (four metres) ; among them is a dolo- 



mitic mail containing impressions of bivalve shells {Estheria minuta 



and Lingula tenuissima). 

 Blackish marls and blackish micaceous schists, with carbonaceous remains 



of plants : four or five metres. 

 Red and grey marls and dolomites, with some sandy beds. 

 Yellowish micaceous sandstone and dolomite, with undeterminable casts 



of bivalves. 



Dolomites, interstratified with marls. 



Fossiliferous limestone, with marly partings. 



Dolomites. (Wellenkalk.) 



West of the Vosges, at Saltz- ■)_.,, , . , , , ,, 



„ „„ f Red and green clays, with gypsum and rock-salt, 



bronn ; Op. cit., p. 120. ■> 6 J ' & ^ 



At Soultz-les-Bains ; Op. cit., ^ Passage-beds of the Muschelkalk. Beds of crystalline dolomite, with 



Keuper. (At Oberbronn, 1 

 'Geol. Bas-Rhin,' p. 127). 



Muschelkalk. (Alsace; Op. 

 cit., p. 118, 119.) 



p. 102. 



Gres Bigarre 



or 



Bunter Sandstone. 



(Loc. cit!) 



Upper. { 



thin bands of shale. 

 Sandstone, in bands from eight to twenty inches 

 thick, alternating with laminated clays and dolo- 

 mites (each in bands from four to eight inches 

 thick), forming a yellowish and reddish series of 

 fine-grained sands and clays. 



V About fifty feet. 



> About forty feet. 



Fine-grained sandstones, reddish, yellowish-brown, 



and greenish grey (redder below, greyer above), 



Lower. ( with ferruginous streaks, in beds of from twenty 



inches to eight feet thick, separated by thin beds 



of laminated sandstone and shaly clay. Estherice. , 



Passage-bed. Red pebbly sandstone. 

 Vosges sandstone ( = Permian). 



" In the quarry at Soultz-les-Bains, which has been the most productive, the beds lying- 

 over the sandstones worked for building-stone, contain very few remains of plants, but 



Two miles south-west of Niederbronn, and seventeen miles and a quarter south-west of Wissembourg. 



