Devon and CornKzall, Belgium, the Eifel, S^^c. 393 



which would fall into two great divisions, of which the lower 

 would be the Eifel limestone : but such an arrangement, he 

 observes, would be quite inconsistent with nature, as proved 

 by the evidence of organic remains*. That the old red sand- 

 stone, however, occurs in considerable force in various parts 

 of Germany, 1 showed in the year 1821, when giving abs- 

 tracts of the observations of M. Freiesleben on the Forest of 

 Thuringia,on Mansfeld, Thuringia, and the Circle of the Saale, 

 and of those of MM. Von Buch and Von Kaumer on Lower Si- 

 lesia, the county of Glatz, and part of Bohemia and Upper Lu- 

 satia. And at that lime, this formation was also conceived to 

 exist in partial distribution in the Netherlands, then forming 

 the immediate support of the carboniferous limestonet. This 

 view has been more recently revived by MM. Rozet and Con- 

 stant Prevost, who contend that the old red sandstone of Bri- 

 tain is not wanting in Belgium, stating as an example, that it is 

 well developed between Dinant and Namur; that is, between 

 the lower Belgian limestone which is in force at Givet, and 

 the carboniferous limestone which prevails at Namur; and 

 hence that M. Dumont was in error when he excluded that 

 formation altogether from the series J. This appears to ac- 

 cord with the prior observations of M. Von Dechen, to which 

 I have referred above. 



But perhaps no evidence is more conclusive of the want of 

 similarity between the Belgian and the Silurian formations 

 than that which is to be derived from a consideration of the 

 fossils of the Eifel limestone (which, as already shown, is 

 considered as identical with the lower limestone of Belgium), 

 placed in parallel with those of the Wenlock limestone; the 

 fossils of the Eifel havino- been determined to a much greater 

 extent than those of tlie other formations, by the labours of 

 Professors Goldfuss and Bronn, and MM. Von Dechen, 

 Steininger, Dumont, and Beyrich ; while the fossils of the 

 Wenlock limestone have been well developed in Mr. Mur- 

 chison's highly valuable work. To institute this comparison, 

 I have drawn up the following tables, founded upon a com- 

 parison of the works of those authors, which may serve to 

 place the subject in a clear light: — 



* Beitr'dge, p. 4, General observations on the fosslliferoiis strata of the 

 Rhenish transition slate mountains. 



t Annals of Philosophy, October 1821 ; Ibid., the same subject continued 

 in August 1822, May 1823, and July 1824. 



I Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, tome ix., Seance de 18 

 Decembre, 1837- 



Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 16. No. 104<. May 184-0. 2 D 



