CHAPTER XXII.

TRIAS OR NEW RED SANDSTONE GROUP.

Distinction between New and Old Red Sandstone--Between Upper and Lower New Red--The Trias and its three divisions--Most largely developed in Germany--Keuper and its fossils--Muschelkalk--Fossil plants of Bunter--Triassic group in England--Bone-bed of Axmouth and Aust--Red Sandstone of Warwickshire and Cheshire--Footsteps of _Chirotherium_ in England and Germany--Osteology of the _Labyrinthodon_--Identification of this Batrachian with the Chirotherium--Origin of Red Sandstone and rock-salt--Hypothesis of saline volcanic exhalations--Theory of the precipitation of salt from inland lakes or lagoons--Saltness of the Red Sea--New Red Sandstone in the United States--Fossil footprints of birds and reptiles in the Valley of the Connecticut--Antiquity of the Red Sandstone containing them 286