"0 



EEV. A. IKYING ON THE EED EOCKS 



Again, the fact that the Devon Eed Rocks are in the same latitude 

 as those of Central Germany, and the further fact that they were 

 deposited in a basin shut off along the line of the Mendips from the 

 Triassic basin of the Midlands (and therefore probably accessible to 

 warmer oceanic currents producing shore-conditions more favourable 

 to the life of these huge Amphibians and Eeptiles), would lead us 

 to expect to find more traces of them in the Devon Bunter, linking 

 it palaeontologically with the Bunter of Germany, of which Dr. 

 Credner remarks that " the frequency of footprints of these Amphi- 

 bians is quite a special feature." ^ The thin bed of breccia east of 

 the Otter-mouth might seem to militate against the beds being 

 Upper Bunter, but not really so, since Prof. Hull has described a 

 similar case in the beds of that sub-formation at Stourport.^ While 

 recasting this paper, I have received from the Eev. Dr. Dixon ^ a 

 specimen of a breccia from the east side of the Otter at Harpford, 

 so closely resembling that which I have accepted for the base of the 

 Xeuper on the east bank of the Sid that I am inclined to attach 

 great importance to it, as tending to settle this moot-point for the 

 country to the east of the Otter. At the same time we must not 

 overlook the fact of the frequent occurrence of fragments (angular 

 and rounded) of red marl in the sandstones, which agrees with my 

 own observations of the Bunter (in former years and again during 

 the past summer) in the North Midlands, and with the remark of 

 Credner that they are a quite characteristic peculiarity of the 

 Bunter Sandstone."^ 



Dr. Johnston-Lavis describes the rock-zone, in which he found 

 Labyrinthodont remains, as consisting of a " much coarser sand- 

 stone containing here and there masses of marl," ^ a very Bunter- 

 like character indeed. 



As to the occurrence of pseudomorphs after rock-salt noted by 

 Mr. G. W. Ormerod in these beds (and quoted by Mr. Whitaker ^), as 

 evidence of a Keuper horizon, this proves nothing at all, since, 

 as Dr. Credner remarks, " very frequently the bedding-planes of the 

 thinly- stratified marly sandstones of the Dpper Bunter are covered 

 with cubic pseudomorphs after crystals of rock-salt," "^ at (e. g.) 

 Waltershausen and the Singer Berg, in the Thiiringerwald, and 

 in Franconia. 



The diagnosis of the ' Dpper Sandstones,' which Mr. Ussher 



^ Op. et loc. cit. : ' Ganz eigenthiimlich ist die Haufigkeit von Fahrten gewisser 

 Amphibien in dem Buntsandsteine.' 



2 Mem. Geol, Surv. supra cit. p. 62. 



^ Formerly a Fellow of this Society. 



* ' Elemente der Geologie,' 6th ed. (1887) p. 542 : ' Die Sandsteine nm- 

 schliessen so haufigrundliche oder eckige Partieen von Thon (Thongallen), dass 

 diese als eine ganz charakteristische Eigenthiimlichkeit des Bunten Sandsteines 

 zu betrachten sind.' 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxii. (1876) p. 277. 



6 Ibid. vol. XXV. (1869) p. 157. 



''' ' Elemente der Geologie,' 6th ed. (1887) p. 543 : ' Sehr haufig . . . sind die 

 Schichtungsflachen der diinngeschiehteten, mergeligen Sandsteine des oberen 

 JBuntsandsteines von wiirfeligen Pseudomorphosen nach Steinsalz bedeckt.' 



