202 FRENCH AND ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF THE PERMIAN SYSTEM. 
Sedgwick, when he showed, for the first time, that the Lower New Red sandstone 1 
was the equivalent of the Rohte-todte-liegende (Pontefract rock of Smith), — which 
overlaid conformably by the Magnesian Limestone or Zechstein (the latter rock 
with flags representing the Kupfer-schiefer), was associated with red marls, gypsum 
and sands. His section, indeed, of the succession near Kirkby in Nottingham- 
shire, exhibiting a lower and an upper red sandstone, with beds of shale and lime- 
stone between them, the whole overlying the coal-measures (in this instance con- 
formably), is a very good illustration of our united group a . In other parts of En- 
gland adjacent to the Silurian region, we place in parallel with the Permian system, 
all those red sandstones and conglomerates, which immediately surround and 
overlie the coal-fields of the central counties, and in which the Magnesian Lime- 
stone or Zechstein is represented simply by a calcareous conglomerate, occasionally 
dolomitic 3 . 
In respect to Germany we may further state, that besides visiting in 1843 certain 
tracts in and around Saxony, including the Thuringerwald (with the environs of 
Halle we were previously acquainted), we also examined that part of Hesse Cassel 
of which Riechelsdorf is the centre, in all of which districts we perceived a con- 
formable succession from the Rohte-todte-liegende and Zechstein into the lower 
Bunter Sandstein. In Hesse Cassel, indeed, M. Altliaus of Rothenburg, an in- 
telligent geologist and a director of mines, has distinguished in his district, a lower 
from an upper Bunter Sandstein, the former constituting, as in other parts of Ger- 
many, the regular cap of the Zechstein. 
Now, whilst this lower Bunter Sandstein of Central Germany is unproductive of 
animal remains, a similar negative character pertains to the rocks of the same age 
which range up to the valley of the Rhine south of Frankfort, and extend from 
1 Scarcely any plants of the Lower New Red of England have yet been made known. The “ Pon- 
tefract Rock ” of William Smith, which is not unlike one of the varieties of our Permian grits, contains, 
as we are informed by Professor Phillips, some obscure plants, one of which was described by Professor 
Lindley. Fossil Flora, vol. iii. pi. 195. We cannot mention the name of so distinguished a geologist as 
Professor Phillips without stating, that he has long been of opinion, that the shells of the Magnesian 
Limestone are of the true palaeozoic type ; and, although Mr. Murchison was formerly opposed to this 
classification, chiefly on account of the Magnesian Limestone containing Saurians — vertebrata unknown 
in the older palaeozoic divisions— he has since become completely convinced of its accuracy. It is right 
on his part to state, that his colleagues, M. de Vemeuil and Count Keyserling, were always of the same 
opinion as Professor Phillips. 
* Geol. Trans., New Series, vol. iii. pp. 56, 57, 80 and 81, plate 5. fig. 1. 
■ 1 See Siluriau System, pp. 54 et seg., 466 et seq., and plates 29 and 37. See also new 7 Geological 
Map of England by Mr. Murchison, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in 
which the Permian classification is for the first time applied. 
