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 province of Perm in Russia, where rocks of this age are extensively developed.  Formerly these rocks were grouped with the succeeding formation of the Trias under the common name of “New Red Sandstone.”  This name was given them because they contain a good deal of red sandstone, and because they are superior to the Carboniferous rocks, while the Old Red Sandstone is inferior.  Nowadays, however, the term “New Red Sandstone” is rarely employed, unless it be for red sandstones and associated rocks, which are seen to overlie the Coal-measures, but which contain no fossils by which their exact age may be made out.  Under these circumstances, it is sometimes convenient to employ the term “New Red Sandstone.”  The New Red, however, of the older geologists, is now broken up into the two formations of the Permian and Triassic rocks—­the former being usually considered as the top of the Palaeozoic series, and the latter constituting the base of the Mesozoic.