liamson, Hooker, Jukes, Geikie, Rupert Jones, Salter,
and many other British and foreign observers.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PERMIAN PERIOD.

The Permian formation closes the long series of the Palaeozoic
deposits, and may in some respects be considered as a kind of
appendix to the Carboniferous system, to which it cannot be compared
in importance, either as regards the actual bulk of its sediments
or the interest and variety of its life-record. Consisting, as
it does, largely of red rocks--sandstones and marls--for the
most part singularly destitute of organic remains, the Permian
rocks have been regarded as a lacustrine or fluviatile deposit;
but the presence of well-developed limestones with indubitable
marine remains entirely negatives this view. It is, however,
not improbable that we are presented in the Permian formation,
as known to us at present, with a series of sediments laid down
in inland seas of great extent, due to the subsidence over large
areas of the vast land-surfaces of the Coal-measures. This view,
at any rate, would explain some of the more puzzling physical
characters of the formation, and would not be definitely negatived
by any of its fossils.

A large portion of the Permian series, as already remarked, consists
of sandstones and marls, deeply reddened by peroxide of iron, and
often accompanied by beds of gypsum or deposits of salt. In strata
of this nature few or no fossils are found; but their shallow-water
origin is sufficiently proved by the presence of the footprints
of terrestrial animals, accompanied in some cases by well-defined
"ripple-marks." Along with these are occasionally found massive
breccias, holding larger or smaller blocks derived from the older
formations; and these have been supposed to represent an old
"boulder-clay," and thus to indicate the prevalence of an arctic
climate. Beds of this nature must also have been deposited in
shallow water. In all regions, however, where the Permian formation
is well developed, one of its most characteristic members is a
Magnesian limestone, often highly and fantastically concretionary,
but containing numerous remains of genuine marine animals, and
clearly indicating that it was deposited beneath a moderate depth
of salt water.

It is not necessary to consider here whether this formation can
be retained as a distinct division of the geological series. The
name of _Permian_ was given to it by Sir Roderick Murchison,
from the provinc