Ch. XXIL] 



THE BUNTEK-SANDSTEIN. 



335 



to the Muschelkalk. In tlie same formation are found ganoid fish with 

 heterocercal tails, of the genus Placodus. (See fig. 430.) 



Fig. 430. 



Fig. 431. 



a. Tolteia JieterophyUa. (Syn. Voltzia 



brevifolia.) 



b. Portion of same magnified to show 



fructification. Sulzbad. 

 Bunter-sandstein. 



Palatal teeth of Placodus gigas. 

 Muschelkalk. 



The Bunter-sandstein consists of various colored sandstones, dolomites, 

 and red-clays, with some beds, especially in the Hartz, of calcareous piso- 

 lite or roe-stone, the whole sometimes attaining a thickness of more than 

 1000 feet. The sandstone of the Vosges, according to Von Meyer, is 

 proved, by the presence of Labyrinthodon, to belong to this lowest mem- 

 ber of the Triassic group. At Sulzbad (or Soultz-les-bains), near Stras- 

 burg, on the flanks of the Vosges, many plants have been obtained from 

 the " bunter," especially conifers of the extinct genus Voltzia, peculiar to 

 this period, in which even the fructification has been preserved. (See 

 fig. 431.) . 



Out of thirty species of ferns, cycads, conifers, and other plants, enu- 

 merated by M. Ad. Brongniart, in 1849, as coming from the " gres 

 bigarre," or Bunter, not one is common to the Keuper.* This difference, 

 however, may arise partly from the fact that the flora of " the Bunter" 

 has been almost entirely derived from one district (the neighborhood of 

 Strasburg), and its peculiarities may be local. 



The footprints of a reptile (Labyrinthodon) have been observed on the 

 clays of this member of the Trias, near Hildburghausen, in Saxony, im- 

 pressed on the upper surface of the beds, and standing out as casts in 

 relief from the under sides of incumbent slabs of sandstone. To these I 

 shall again allude in the sequel ; they attest, as well as the accompanying 

 ripple-marks, and the cracks which traverse the clays, the gradual deposi- 

 tion of the beds of this formation in shallow water, and sometimes between 

 high and low water. 



Triassic Group in England. 



In England the Lias is succeeded by conformable strata of red and 

 green marl, or clay. There intervenes, however, both in the neighbor- 

 hood of Axmouth, in Devonshire, and in the cliffs of Westbury and 



* Tableau des Genres de Veg. Fos., Diet. Univ. 1849. 



