C. Schuchert — Picssian Carboniferous and Permian. 145 



alayas, although the latter certainly hold a somewhat higher 

 stratigraphical position, and they may consequently be placed 

 on a level with the upper Productus limestone or with the 

 Chidru group of the Salt Range. 



" The youngest of the three rock groups is probably the Bel- 

 lerophon limestone of South-eastern Tyrol. Its fauna is a very 

 peculiar one, species identical with those known outside this, 

 rock group being almost completely absent. The predomi- 

 nance of palgeozoic types induced Stache to fix the homotaxis 

 of these beds as upper permian, whereas Giimbel supposed 

 them to be of lowest triassic age. . . . 



" In none of these three permian rock groups of the Med- 

 iterranean region is a normal sequence of marine beds exposed, 

 with the possible exception of the Bellerophon limestone of 

 the Carnian Alps, which, however, is underlaid by an enor- 

 mous mass of unfossiliferous limestones and dolomites. Their 

 correlation must consequently be based on palseontological 

 evidence alone" (pp. 90-91). 



Recently, Schellwien and Kossmat (Monatsber. ~No. 9, 

 Deutsch. Geol. G-esellsch., 1905, pp. 357-9) found in the 

 Bellerophon limestone (usually regarded as the topmost Per- 

 mian of the Alps) of Krain, west of the Laibach plain, a 

 fauna consisting in the main of brachiopods, corals, and Fora- 

 minifera. As yet the fossils are not worked out of the matrix, 

 but the following species are determined : Richtofenia afL 

 lawrenciana, Productus indicus, P. abichi, Marginifera 

 ovalis, and Lonsdaleia indica. In regard to these fossils 

 Schellwien concludes as follows : — 



" The finding of this fauna dispels all doubt as to the Per- 

 mian age of the Bellerophon limestone. The value of this 

 discovery in fixing the time position of this limestone, how- 

 ever, is overshadowed by the greater one, — that of fixing the 

 chronologic position of the Productus limestone [of India], 

 the correlations of which, as is known, are still at variance. 

 The fossil-bearing beds of the Bellerophon limestone are 

 everywhere in close association with the lower Werfen beds 

 [Triassic] : in southern Tyrol the boundary between the Wer- 

 fen deposits and the Bellerophon limestone is difficult to estab- 

 lish. At Krain the fossiliferous zones of the Bellerophon 

 limestone are also separated, but by a thin dolomite series from 

 the Trias. These upper dolomites introduce micaceous layers 

 and gradually pass into the Werfen slates, with their well- 

 known bivalve fauna. The Bellerophon limestone, therefore, 

 can represent only the highest zone of the Permian, and for 

 the Productus limestone the same view may also be affirmed. 

 Worthy of note is the fact that of this fauna of the Bellero- 

 phon limestone, it is also not only those of the higher zones 

 of the Indian Productus limestone but likewise forms of the 



