OF THE CARBONIFEROUS SERIES. 639 Coal-nieasures has been recognized in Westphalia. In the district of Werden, on the Ruhr, the dark shales of the Coal-formation have yielded to Herren von Dechen and Lottner Goniatites earbonarius and Aviculopectea papyraceus* . Lottner divides the Coal-formation of "Westphalia into three stages (a lower, middle, and upper), possibly corresponding to Stages E, F, and G of the British classification ; and he shows that all the marine fossils belong to the beds lying at the verge of the Lower and Middle Stages. Along with the marine shells are associated Anthracosice, which in the middle Stage occur in considerable numbers. Sections of the Lower series are laid open on the banks of the river Mulde. B. Continental Equivalents of Stages A, B, C, and D. It will be quite unnecessary for me to describe at any length the representatives of the divisions on the Continent subordinate to the Lower Marine zone (Stage E) of the productive Coal-measures. The reader will find an admirable summary of the views of continental geologists in Murchison's ' Siluria ' f or Professor Renevier's Tables ; and it is therefore only necessary for me to observe that they can be recognized in various districts, though they are occasionally imper- sistent. In the beds of sandstone (Flotzleerer Sandstein) of the Rhenish provinces which underlie the productive Coal-measures geologists are unanimous in recognizing the Millstone Grit of Eng- land j, in which may probably be included the Yoredalc beds (Stage C). This latter division, however, does not appear to occupy a well-recognized position amongst the continental Carboniferous beds. The Carboniferous Limestone of Belgium, which has been so admirably illustrated paheontologically by M. de Koninck, is stated by Murchison to rest directly on the Devonian rocks ; but it would appear that the " schistes de Tournai " intervene, at least locally. Towards the banks of the Rhine this great formation gradually changes its characters, and gives place to dark schists and bands of limestone, with Posidonomya Beclieri. In this form it is represented generally in Westphalia ; but in Silesia, Bohemia, &c. limestone reappears. The lowest stage, A, is represented (according to Murchison) in the Rhenish provinces by the " Kiesel-Schiefer " of the Prussian geologists, which occasionally expands into a deposit of considerable dimensions. In Belgium the " schistes de Tournai" appear to be the representatives of this stage. The following Table is intended to show the representative conti- nental beds, as far as our means of determination extend (Table I.).
- ' Geognostische Skizze des westphalischen Steinkohlengebirges ' (1859),
quoted by Dr. Romer, loc. supra cit. t 4th edit. p. 401 ct seq.
Greinitz, Fleck, and Hartig state that this formation occupies an interme-
diate position between the productive Coal-measures and the Carboniferous Limestone in Westphalia and RheinlaucI, ' Steinkohl en-Formation Deutsch- lands.'
