206 
UY FOSSIL PLANTS. 
found in the Anthracites of the Savoy Alps. 
These ai e said to exhibit true carboniferous 
fossils^ and to be interstratified with lias 
slate.* The suppositions framed by Mons. 
Adolphe Brongniart and others, to account 
for this apparent anomaly, shew their strong 
conviction of the universality of the law. 
The exact geological position of the beds 
alluded to has not yet been so satisfactorily 
determined as to require us to make an ex¬ 
ception, or to adopt either of .the ingenious 
hypothesis proposed to account for the fact. 
It remains that we should generalise some 
of the views suggested by the foregoing 
statements. 
If w e divide the whole of the fossiliferous 
past into three great periods; L, the early 
or palaeozoic, comprising all fossiliferous 
strata up to and inclusive of the true coal 
measures; II., the middle or mesozoic reach¬ 
ing from the upper boundary of the carbon¬ 
iferous system to the upper beds of the chalk ; 
* Vide Mr. Biinbury’s Memoir Journal of Geological Society, 
No. 18, and the President's Address in same number. 
