COMPARISON WITH FOREIGN NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



45 



from the Gres bigarre by the Muschelkalk ; but in the central and south-western parts 

 of France, as the researches of M. Dufrenoy 1 acquaint us, the upper marls and under- 

 lying sandstones are brought together, precisely in the same manner as in England, 

 the Muschelkalk or subdividing limestone having thinned out. 



Judging from these comparisons of foreign types, I have no doubt that our saliferous 

 marls in England, with their subordinate courses of sandstone, represent the Keuper 

 and Marnes irisees ; and whether or not the calcareous course of Broughton in Shrop- 

 shire be ultimately referred to the Muschelkalk, still it appears certain, that all the 

 massive sandstones underlying the marls, as described in this chapter, are the true 

 representatives of the Bunter Sandstein or Gres bigarre ; for independent of clear 

 stratigraphical position, the great thickness and indivisibility of these sandstones 

 seem to me distinctly to authorize this conclusion. 



1 Mem. pour servir, &c. tome i. p. 313. 



