44 



ORGANIC REMAINS OF THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



branches, besides in one place putting out lateral ribs near the base. Intermediate to 

 the principal ribs are, in one place transverse connecting elevations, which we may 

 suppose to have been secondary veins ; and in another place a small vein with lateral 

 veinlets. In the whole specimen there is a good deal of irregularity of arrangement in 

 the parts, and a greater want of symmetry than is usual in leaves." 



Although the Upper Formations of the New Red System in England afford few traces 

 of fossil plants and animal remains, the strata of the same age in France and Germany 

 contain a flora and fauna of peculiar character. Many of the plants are already figured 

 by M. Adolphe Brongniart, in his great work on fossil botany, " Histoire des Vegetaux 

 Fossiles." The Keuper, for example, presents several species of Equisetacece of the 

 genera Catamites and Equisetum, and a fern of the genus Pecopteris. 



The Muschelkalk contains a species of fern, Neuropteris, and Mantellia, one of the 

 Cycadese. 



In the Gres bigarre the following plants occur. Equisetacece : Equiseti and Ca- 

 tamites. Filices : Anomopteris, Neuropteris, Sphenopteris, and Fiticites. Conifers : 

 several species of that remarkable genus Voltzia, named after the geologist whose la- 

 bours have thrown so much light on the structure of Alsace 1 . Liliace^e : Convalli- 

 Htes, JEthophyttum, Pat&oxyris, Echinostachys. On the whole, these plants have a 

 certain community of character peculiar to the deposits of this age, and are very 

 distinct from the vegetables of the overlying or underlying systems. 



One plant only of the Keuper, Equisetum columnare, is found in the lower part of the 

 Oolitic System ; whilst two species, Catamites arenaceus and C. Mougeottii, are common 

 to the Keuper and the Gres bigarre. 



Some of the animal remains of the Keuper have already been mentioned (note, p. 30. 

 &c). In the Gres bigarre, besides the saurians, to which I have alluded, there are 

 univalve and bivalve shells, some of which are well-known fossils of the Muschelkalk. 



In a masterly sketch of the red sandstone group of the Vosges and adjacent parts of 

 France 2 , M. Elie de Beaumont has shown that the upper marls (Marnes irisees), which 

 he places in parallel with our English red marl, are the true representatives of the 

 Keuper ; and the identity between these marls of Lorraine and the Keuper of Swabia 

 has lately been completely established by M. Levallois 3 , who coincides with De Beau- 

 mont and Voltz in considering the whole formation to be composed of saliferous and 

 gypseous marls, with occasional traces of coal and thin subordinate courses of sandstone 

 and limestone. Thus the Keuper of Lorraine and Swabia only differs from our red 

 marl in containing traces of coal and limestone, with bands of sandstone of greater thick- 

 ness than any known in the English formation. In these regions, however, there is no 

 ambiguity, since the Keuper is surmounted by the Lias, and is invariably separated 



1 Geognosie de l'Alsace. Strasbourg, 1827. 



2 Memoires pour servir a une Description geologique de la France, tome i. p. 1. 



3 Mem. de la Soc. Geol. de France, tome ii. p. 1. 



