254 
Notices of Books. 
[April, 
Thus we have proof that at the time of the Keuper there was in 
this region dry land, which probably extended over the Black 
Forest and the Vosges. The character of the flora is greatly 
changed from that of the Carboniferous period. The Lepido- 
dendra , Aster phyllitcc , and Sigillarice have disappeared, and in 
their stead we find gigantic horse-tails and Cycads of the genera 
Zamia and Dion, whose nearest living representatives are to be 
found in South Africa. In similar strata in Wirtemberg, 
Bavaria, and even in North Carolina, we meet with the same 
genera, and even the same species, as in the Swiss Keuper. 
Animal remains are also not wanting. Though Prof. Heer 
sought vainly for inserts in the Keuper marls of Rutihard, he 
has found in the black shales of Vadutz two species of beetles 
( Buprestites pterophylli and Curculionites prodromus). We must 
here remark that the Curculionidas and Buprestidas are of all 
insedts the most compadt in their textures, as is well known to 
pradtical entomologists. The elytra of some of the species often 
turn the point of a pin, and require to be perforated with the 
point of a penknife or with a fine steel drill. Hence the remains 
of these beetles are much better calculated to resist either me- 
chanical injuries or chemical changes than other insedts, and we 
must therefore not be misled by their relative abundance in 
certain geological formations. 
Huge reptiles inhabited Switzerland at this period : a gigantic 
Labyrinthodon, a salamandroid Batrachian, a crocodile ( Sclero - 
saurus armatus), a large Mastodonsaurus, a Bclodon “ very like 
the gavial of tropical America,”* and certain Teratosauri have 
been found at Schambelen, in the Liesthal, &c. 
The exploration of the Lias formation at Schambelen has 
proved exceedingly fruitful ; nineteen fossiliferous beds, some 
containing marine and others terrestrial fossils, have been 
examined by Prof. Heer. He infers that the rock must have 
been formed in a quiet bay, protected from the agitation of the 
waves by a chain of hills projecting into the sea, or by a reef of 
rocks. It vividly reminded him of a scene he had witnessed in 
the quiet bay of Gorgulto, at Madeira. At Schambelen 22 spe- 
cies of plants and 182 of animals have been discovered. The 
latter consist of 1 reptile, n fishes, 143 insedts, 6 Crustacea, 
17 Mollusca, and 4 Radiata. The reptile, indicated merely by a 
tooth, was probably an Ichthyosaurus. Schambelen is the only 
locality on the continent of Europe where so many primaeval 
insedts have been preserved. In England the Lower Lias has 
indeed yielded 56 species, but they are in a worse state of pre- 
servation and less varied than those of Schambelen. The 
species found are distributed among the different “ orders ” — 
conventionally so-called — as follows : — Orthoptera, 7 species ; 
* This is a singular use of the name “ gavial,” which is generally restricted 
to Crocodilia of India and Australia. 
