232 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
in Hesse, Saxony, or Thuringerwald, where the Zechstein and 
Kupfer Schiefer are most developed ; and from all Mr. Murclii- 
son^s inquiries and observations, it appears that the upper mass 
only of the Bunter-sandstein contains the remains of animals 
and plants analogous to those of the Muschelkalk which rests 
upon it. The footmarks of the Cheriotherium appeared also to 
be confined to the beds of sandstone, at a very little depth below 
the Muschelkalk. From these circumstances Mr. Mm-chison 
was induced to regard the upper beds alone of the Bunter-sand- 
stein as belonging to the trias, whilst the lower portion, which 
though generally unfossilliferous, contained in Russia the same 
groups of fossils with the Permian rocks, he proposed henceforth 
to separate from the secondary system, and consider it, together 
with the Zechstein and Eothe-todte-liegende, as the upper mem- 
ber of the palaeozoic series supposed to be represented by a thin 
band of dolomite. The plants of the Permian system of Russia 
appear, from the opinion of M. Adolphe Brongniart, to possess 
a peculiar character ; but they are still closely allied to carboni- 
ferous forms, like the plants of the Rothe-todte-liegende of 
Saxony; and this evidence is in complete harmony with that 
afibrded by the molluscs, corals and ichthyolites. In conclusion, 
Mr. Murchison remarked that the English strata ranging under 
the synonyme of Permian, formed a well-defined tract, separating 
the coal-fields from the newer deposits of red sandstone and 
marl ; and as the magnesian limestone does not often appear in 
the form of a continuous deposit, it was the more desirable to 
give a latitude to this group, and not to define it too nar- 
rowly by mere mineral characters. Thus considered, Mr. 
Murchison believed the Permian system had a real existence in 
Ireland, being represented by those beds containing the Pro- 
ductus aculeatus, and probably also by the red sandstone with the 
Palceoniscus catopteruSj at Rhoan Hill, near Dungannon. 
Views respecting the cause of theMotion of the Glaciers, hy 
W. Hopkins, Esq. De Saussure had adopted the theory 
