Beer ill. Sect. 1. §1.] TRIASSIC, 759 
PART III. Mesozoic orn SECONDARY. 
Section I. Triassic and Rhetic. 
It has been already mentioned that the great mass of red rocks, 
which in England overlie the Carboniferous system, were formerly 
classed together as New Red Sandstone, but are now ranged in two 
systems. We have considered the lower of these under the name of 
Permian. The general facies of organic remains in that division is 
still decidedly Paleozoic. Its brachiopods and its plants connect 
it with the Carboniferous rocks below. Hence it is placed at the 
close of the long series of Paleozoic formations. When, however, 
we enter the upper division of the red rocks, though the general 
lithological characters remain very much as in the lower group, the 
fossils bring before us the advent. of the great Mesozoic flora and 
fauna. This group therefore is put at the base of the Mesozoic or 
Secondary series, though in some regions, as in England, no very 
satisfactory lime of demarcation can always be drawn between 
Permian and Triassic rocks. The term Trias was suggested by the 
fact that in Germany the group consists of three well-marked sub- 
divisions. But the old name, New Red Sandstone, is familiarly 
retained by many geologists in England. The word Trias, like 
_ Dyas, is unfortunately chosen, for it elevates a mere local character 
into an importance which it does not deserve. ‘The threefold sub- 
division, though so distinct in Germany, disappears elsewhere. 
§1. General Characters. 
As the term Trias arose in Germany, so the development of the 
Triassic rocks in that and adjoining parts of Europe has been 
accepted as the normal type of the system. There can be little 
doubt, however, that though this type is best known, and has been 
traced in detached areas over the centre and west of HKurope, from 
Saxony to the north of Iveland, reappearing even among the 
eastern States of North America, it must be looked upon as a local 
phenomenon. This assertion commends itself to our acceptance, 
when we reflect upon the nature of the strata of the central 
European Triassic basins. These rocks consist for the most part of 
bright red sandstones and clays or marls, with layers, nodules, or 
-veinings of gypsum, beds of rock-salt, bands and massive beds of 
limestone, often dolomitic. Such an association of materials points 
to isolated basins of deposit, to which the sea found occasional access, 
and in which the water underwent concentration, until its gypsum 
and salt were thrown down. That the intervals of diminished 
salinity, during which the sea renewed, and perhaps maintained, a 
connection with the basins, were occasionally of some duration, is 
shown by the thickness and fossiliferous nature of the limestones. 
