[Illustration: Fig. 80.--Terebellaria ramosissima. (Recent Coral.)] SECONDARY EPOCH. During the _Primary Epoch_ our globe would appear to have been chiefly appropriated to beings which lived in the waters--above all, to the Crustaceans and Fishes; during the _Secondary Epoch_ Reptiles seem to have been its prevailing inhabitants. Animals of this class assumed astonishing dimensions, and would seem to have multiplied in a most singular manner; they were, apparently, the kings of the earth. At the same time, however, that the animal kingdom thus developed itself, the vegetation lost much of its importance. Geologists have agreed among themselves to divide the Secondary epoch into three periods: 1, the _Cretaceous_; 2, the _Jurassic_; 3, the _Triassic_--a division which it is convenient to adopt. THE TRIASSIC, OR NEW RED PERIOD. This period has received the name of Triassic because the rocks of which it is composed, which are more fully developed in Germany than either in England or France, were called the Trias (or Triple Group), by German writers, from its division into three groups, as follows, in descending order:-- ENGLAND. FRANCE. GERMANY. Saliferous and gypseous } Marnes irisées Keuper. 1,000 feet. shales and sandstone } Wanting { Muschelkalk or Calcaire } Muschelkalk. 600 feet. { coquillier } Sandstone and quartzose } Grès bigarré Bunter-Sandstein. conglomerate } 1,500 ft. The following has been shown by Mr. Ed. Hull to be the general succession of the Triassic formation in the midland and north-western counties of England, where it attains its greatest vertical development, thinning away in the direction of the mouth of the Thames:--