INTRODUCTION. xix 



in the doubtfully periodised Freestones of Chemnitz, may simply be noticed in the 

 present place. The asserted existence of Sigillaria in the subordinate sandstone beds 

 of Westoe is of the same value as the supposed occurrence of this genus in the 

 Permian deposits of Russia (vide Brongniart, in ' Geol. Rus.,' vol. ii, p. 11). Of 

 Conifers, it is uncertain whether any have yet been found, the Permian age of which 

 is settled ; but from the abundance of coniferous wood in the Carboniferous deposits, 

 it may be confidently expected, that their remains will yet be discovered. The so- 

 called Cupressites, and some other Conifer-like plants, occurring in the Mergerl-schiefer 

 of Germany, may perhaps be sea-weeds. 



The remains of the animal kingdom occurring in the Permian rocks being 

 tolerably well known, compared with the vegetable Fossils, a better means seems to offer 

 itself for enabling us to arrive at a more positive conclusion in the present inquiry. 



Passing over the Sponges, which for many reasons cannot be satisfactorily com- 

 pared with those of other systems, and the doubtfully related Foraminifera, which 

 have been treated so fully by Mr. T. Rupert Jones, as to render any further notice of 

 them supererogatory, we arrive at the Class Tolyparia — an extensive group oiBadiata — 

 which flourished abundantly during the Protozoic period. The Permian rocks are 

 singularly deficient in the lamelliferous forms of this class ; as only two species have 

 been found, one of which occurs both in England and Germany. The more elevated 

 forms, the Ciliobrachiata, however, are tolerably abundant, some of which, it is 

 suspected, will hereafter be found to be specifically identical with Carboniferous species. 

 The genera Fenestella, Acanthocladia, and 'Fhyllopora, which had representatives in the 

 earlier ages, possessed Permian species rather widely distributed ; as the same forms 

 occur in both the German and English rocks : but the genus Synodadia, which is not 

 known to have existed in earlier ages, had its species {Synodadia viryularia), confined 

 to the Permian rocks of the North of England. It is to be regretted, that we are 

 almost entirely in ignorance respecting the Polyparian fauna of the Triassic system. 



The Class EcJiinodermata is very scantily represented in the Permian rocks hitherto 

 examined : only two species, each of which belongs to the two orders, Crinodece and 

 Echinidea, are all that are known ; and both occur in Germany and England. Should 

 the fossil herein ' named Archaocidaris Verneuiliana really belong to the genus in 

 which it is placed, it will serve as an important Echinodermian link by which to 

 connect the Permian with the Carboniferous period : the same may be said, but with 

 more confidence, of CyatJiocrinus ramosus. 



The great division Articulata has a few Permian representatives among the Annellata 

 and Crustacea. The former, from their paucity, are not of much importance in our 

 present consideration ; but the latter require more than a passing notice. Considering 

 the abundance of Trilobites in all other Protozoic deposits, it is surprising that none have 

 yet been found in those under consideration : their absence eminently distinguishes the 



