INTRODUCTION. xix 
in the doubtfully periodised Freestones of Chemnitz, may simply be noticed in the 
present place. The asserted existence of Sig//aria 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. u, 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 Moraminifera, 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 Polyparia—an extensive group of Radiata— 
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 Phyllopora, 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 Synocladia, which is not 
known to have existed in earlier ages, had its species (Synocladia virgularia), 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 Hchinodermata is very scantily represented in the Permian rocks hitherto 
examined: only two species, each of which belongs to the two orders, Crinodee and 
Echinidee, are all that are known; and both occur inGermany and England. Should 
the fossil herem named 4rcheocidaris Verneuilana 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 Cyathocrinus ramosus. 
The great division Articulata has a few Permian representatives among the dunellata 
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 
