
Parr Il. Secr.v.§2.] PERMIAN, = 
preserved silicified stems of tree-ferns (Psaronius, Tubicaulis). The 
conifer Walchia (W. piniformis) is specially characteristic. Fish remains 
occur sparingly (Amblypterus, Palzeoniscus, Acanthodes), and traces of 
labyrinthodonts (Archegosawrus Decheni) have been met with. 
_ The Zechstein group is characterized by a suite of fossils like those of 
the Magnesian Limestone group of England. The Kupferschiefer con- 
tains numerous fish (Palzoniscus Freislebeni, Platysomus gibbosus, &c.) and 
remains of plants (coniferous leaves and fruits and sea-weeds). This 
deposit is believed to have been laid down in some enclosed sea-basin, the 
waters of which, probably from the rise of mineral springs connected 
with some of the volcanic foci of the time, were so charged with metallic 
salts in solution as to become unfit for the continued existence of animal 
life. ‘The dead fish, plants, &c., by their decay, gave rise to reduction 
and precipitation of these salts as sulphides, which thereupon enclosed 
and replaced the organic forms, and permeated the mud at the bottom. 
This old sea-floor is now the widely extended band of copper-slate which 
has so long and so extensively been worked along the flanks of the Harz. 
After the formation of the Kupferschiefer the area must have been once 
more covered by clearer water, for the Zechstein contains a number of 
organisms, among which Productus horridus, Spirifera undulata, Strophalosia 
Goldfussi, Schizodus obscurus, and Fenestella retiformis are common, Re- 
newed unfavourable conditions are indicated by the dolomite, gypsum, 
and rock-salt which succeed. Reasoning upon similar phenomena 
as developed in England, Ramsay has connected them with the abundant 
labyrinthodont footprints and other evidences of shores and land, as well 
as the small number and dwarfed forms of the shells in the Magnesian 
Limestone, and has speculated on the occurrence of a long “continental 
period ” in Europe, during one epoch of which a number of salt inland 
seas existed wherein the Permian rocks were accumulated. He compares 
these deposits to what may be supposed to be forming now in parts of 
the Caspian Sea. 
In Bohemia (pp. 748, 754) and Moravia, where the Permian system is 
extensively developed, it has been divided into three groups. (1) A lower 
set of conglomerates, sandstones, and shales, sometimes bituminous. These 
strata contain diffused copper ores and abound here and there in remains 
of land-plants and fishes. (2) A middle group of felspathic sandstones, con- 
glomerates, and micaceous shales, with vast numbers of silicified tree- 
stems (Araucarites, Psaronius). (3) An upper group of red clays and sand- 
stones, with bituminous shales. Hruptive rocks (melaphyre, porphyrite, 
_ &.) are associated with the whole formation. A zone of red sandstones and 
conglomerates found on both sides of the Alps below recognized Triassic 
beds is referred to the Permian system. Inthe southern Tyrol it includes 
the well-known mass of red porphyry of Botzen with its associated 
breccias, tuffs, and red-sandstones. ; 
Russia.1—The second or “‘ Permian” type attains an enormous de- 
velopment in Hastern Europe. Its nearly horizontal strata cover by far the 
largestpart of European Russia. They consist of sandstones, marls, shales, 
conglomerates, limestones (often highly dolomitic), gypsum, rock-salt, 
and thin seamsofcoal. In the lowerand more sandy half of this series of 
strata remains of land-plants (Calamites gigas, Cyclopteris, Pecopteris, &c.), 
1 See “ Russia and Ural Mountains,” Murchison, De Verneuil, and Keyserling: 4to, 
2 vols., 1845. 
