10 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
"Dyas" for the older name "Permian," I take this opportunity of 
expressing my regret tliat some German geologists are returning to 
the use of the terra " Grauwacke Formation," as if years of hard 
labour had not been successfully bestowed in elaborating and esta- 
blishing the different Palaeozoic groups, all of which, even including 
the Lower Carboniferous deposits, were formerly confusedly grouped 
under the one lithological term of the " Grauwacke Formation." 
Respecting as I do the labours of the German geologists who 
have distinguished themselves in describing the order of the strata 
and the fossil contents of the group under consideration, I claim no 
other merit on this point for my collengues De Verneuil and A^on 
Keyserling, and myself, than that of having propounded twenty 
years ago the name of " Permian" to embrace in one natural series 
those sub-formations for which no collective name had been adopted. 
Independently therefore of the reasons above given, which show the 
inapplicability of the word " Dyas," I trust that, in accordance with 
those rules of priority which guide naturalists, the word " Permian" 
will be maintained in geological classification. 
London : Belgrave Square. 
Nov. 30, 1861. 
THE GEOLOGICAL A^T> CHRONOLOGICAL DISTRI- 
BUTION OF THE DEVONIAN FOSSILS OF DEVON 
AND CORNWALL. 
By W. Pengellt, F.G.S. 
The limestones, slates, and associated sandstones of North and 
South Devon and Cornwall have, as is well known, caused much 
perplexity as to their real place in the chronological series of the 
geologist. Thanks, however, to the labours of Professor Sedgwick, 
Sir R. I. Murchison, Mr. Lonsdale, and others, the problem is now 
generally admitted to be solved ; the rocks in question are the re- 
presentatives or equivalents of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland 
and elsewhere ; they belong to what is known as the Devonian age 
of the world. Some little difficulty, however, exists — or rather once 
existed — in the way of the full acceptance of this chronology. The 
rocks of Devonshire are crowded with the remains of invertebrate 
animals, especially shells, corals, and sponges ; whilst the supposed 
contemporary deposits in Scotland and the adjacent islets are so 
rich in fossil fish that, in the language of the late LIugh Miller, 
" Orkney, were the trade once opened up, could supply with ich- 
thyolites, by the ton and the shipload, the museums of the world."* 
But the fossils characteristic of either of these districts are not found 
in the other; there are no organic links connecting the two localities. 
* ' Footprints of the Creator,' p. 2. 
