440 BUNTER-SANDSTEIN. [Ch. XXII 



found the skull and teeth of a reptile of the genus Placodus (see fig 

 475), which was referred originally by Count Miinster, and afterwards 

 by Agassiz, to the class of fishes. But more perfect specimens ena- 

 bled Professor Owen, in 1858, to show that this fossil animal was a 

 Saurian reptile, which probably fed on shell-bearing mollusks, and 

 used its short and flat teeth, so thickly coated with enamel, for 

 pounding and crushing the shells.* 



Bunter-sandstein. 



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

 mites, and red clays, with some beds, especially in the Hartz, of cal- 

 careous pisolite or roe-stone, the whole sometimes attaining a thick- 

 ness of more than 1000 feet. The sandstone of the Vosges, accord- 

 ing to Von Meyer, is proved, by the presence of Labyrinthodon and 

 other fossils, to belong to this lowest member of the Triassic group. 

 At Sulzbad (or Soultz-les-bains), near Strasburg, on the flanks of the 

 Yosges, many plants have been obtained from the " Bunter," espe- 

 cially conifers of the extinct genus Voltzia, peculiar to this period, in 

 which even the fructification has been preserved. (See fig. 476.) 



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

 enumerated by M. Ad. Brongniart, in 1849, as coming from the 

 " Gres bigarre," or Bunter, not one is common to the Keuper.f 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 Sax- 

 ony, impressed 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 tracks which traverse the clays, 

 the gradual deposition of the beds of this formation in shallow water, 

 and sometimes between high and low water. 



Triassic Group in England. 



The Trias or New Eed series of England is subdivided by Pro- 

 fessor Eamsay in the following manner : 



C Koessen or Penarth beds (Avicula contorta zone). 

 Keuper -j New Red Marl, with streaks of Sandstone. 



( White and Brown Sandstone and Marl. 



( Upper Variegated Sandstone. 

 Bunter -| Conglomerate or Pebble beds. 



( Lower Variegated Marble. 



* Owen, Phil. Trans., 1858, p. 169. 



f Tableau des Genres de Veg. Foss., Diet. Univ., 1849. 



