No. l8.] TRIASSIC FISHES OF CONNECTICUT. 37 



versunkenen Continente vorgelagert war. Diese triadische 

 'Atlantis ' existirte wahrscheinlich bereits am Schluss des palao- 

 zoischen Zeitalters.^ Sie reichte im Westen vermuthlich bis 

 zum heutigen Nordamerica,^ welches ' bekanntlich auf seiner 

 Osthalfte ausgedehnte triadische Binnensedimente vom Charakter 

 des germanischen Buntsandsteines und Keupers besitzt, wahrend 

 pelagische Sedimente der Trias bios auf dam pacifischen Abhange 

 dieses Continentes anzvitreffen sind." 



Expressed in English, the meaning of the above paragraph 

 would be that the second of these geographical provinces forms 

 a restricted area of the first, and may be regarded as having 

 formerly been a large estuary of an extensive land area now 

 submerged beneath the Atlantic Ocean. This hypothetical Tri- 

 assic continent, the so-called "Atlantis," probably became elevated 

 above sea level at least as early as the close of the Paleozoic. 

 It presumably extended westward to the present continent of 

 North America, for along the eastern border of the latter are 

 found non-marine Triassic deposits corresponding to the central 

 European Buntsandstein and Keuper, while marine Triassic rocks 

 occur only along the Pacific slope. [It is proper to point out that 

 the theory of a submerged " Atlantis " is by no means universally 

 held among modern geologists, but on the contrary many of the 

 foremost authorities are firm believers in the permanence of con- 

 tinental land masses.] 



To pursue this topic of paleogeography a step further, it is 

 of interest to recall that the eastern and western boundaries of 

 the Triassic Thetys are thus delineated by Professor James P. 

 Smith, in his article on the " Classification of Marine Trias " 

 (Journ. of Geol., 1896, iv, p. 387) : 



" Along the western borders of Thetys were deposited the 

 Triassic sediments of the Alps, Spain, southern Italy, the 



^ Suess, Antlitz der Erde., ii, p. 317. 



^ Einen sicheren Anhaltspunkt fiir die Annahme eines solchen Continents bieten 

 auch die Pflanzenreste dar, welche in den Kohlenfeldern des ostlichen Virginiens 

 gefunden und von Stur mit den Pflanzen des Lunzer Sandsteins (jnlische Stufe) 

 identificirt wurden. Vergl. Stur, " Die Lunzer- (Lettenkohlen-) Flora in den ' older 

 Mesozoic beds of the Coalfields of eastern Virginia.' " Verh. Geol. Reichsanstalt, 1888, 

 p. 203. 



Besides the paper of Stur's just referred to, one may consult the following by F. 

 Zeller, which contains a comparison with the Alpine Trias: Beitrage zur Kenntniss 

 der Lettenkohle und des Keupers in Sohwaben. Neues Jahrb. f. Mineral, u. s. v., 

 Beilage-Bd. xxv, 1908, pp. 1-134. His correlation of the fish-bearing beds of the 

 Alpine Trias is essentially the same as that adopted in the present Report. 



