of this subdivision is made up of weakly-cemented, coarse-grained sandstones, oblique lamination is very prevalent, and occasional conglomeratic beds make their appearance. The uppermost bed is usually fine-grained and bears the footprints of Cheirotherium. In the Vosges district, this subdivision of the Bunter is called the Grès des Vosges, or the Grès principal, which comprises: (i.) red micaceous and argillaceous sandstone; (ii.) the conglomérat principal; and (iii.) Grès bigarré principal (=grès des Vosges, properly so-called). (3) Lower Buntsandstein, fine-grained clayey and micaceous sandstones, red-grey, yellow, white and mottled. The cement of the sandstones is often felspathic; for this reason they yield useful porcelain clays in the Thuringerwald. Clay galls are common in the sandstones of some districts, and in the neighbourhood of the Harz an oolitic calcareous sandstone, Rogenstein, occurs. In eastern Hesse, the lowest beds are crumbly, shaly clays, Bröckelschiefern.
The following are the subdivisions usually adopted in England:—(1) Upper Mottled Sandstone, red variegated sandstones, soft and generally free from pebbles. (2) Bunter Pebble Beds, harder red and brown sandstones with quartzose pebbles, very abundant in some places. (3) Lower Mottled Sandstone, very similar to the upper division. The Bunter beds occupy a large area in the midland counties where they form dry, healthy ground of moderate elevation (Cannock Chase, Trentham, Sherwood Forest, Sutton Coldfield, &c.). Southward they may be followed through west Somerset to the cliffs of Budleigh Salterton in Devon; while northward they pass through north Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire to the Vale of Eden and St Bees, reappearing in Elgin and Arran. A deposit of these rocks lies in the Vale of Clwyd and probably flanks the eastern side of the Pennine Hills, although here it is not so readily differentiated from the Keuper beds. The English Bunter rests with a slight unconformity upon the older formations. It is generally absent in the south-eastern counties, but thickens rapidly in the opposite direction, as is shown by the following table:—
| Lancashire and W. Cheshire. |
Staffordshire. | Leicestershire and Warwickshire. |
| (1)500 ft. | 50-200 ft. | Absent |
| (2) 500-750 ft. | 100-300 ft. | 0-100 ft. |
| (3) 200-500 ft. | 0-100 ft. | Absent |
The material forming the Bunter beds of England came probably from the north-west, but in Devonshire there are indications which point to an additional source.
In the Alpine region, most of the Trias differs markedly from that of England and northern Germany, being of distinctly marine origin; here the Bunter is represented by the Werfen beds (from Werfen in Salzburg) in the northern Alps, a series of red and greenish-grey micaceous shales with gypsum, rock salt and limestones in the upper part; while in the southern Alps (S. Tirol) there is an upper series of red clays, the Campil beds, and a lower series of thin sandstones, the Seis beds. Mojsisovics von Mojsvar has pointed out that the Alpine Bunter belongs to the single zone of Natica costata and Tirolites cassianus.
Fossils in the Bunter are very scarce; in addition to the footprints of Cheirotherium, direct evidence of amphibians is found in such forms as Trematosaurus and Mastodonsaurus. Myophoria costata and Gervillea Murchisoni are characteristic fossils. Plants are represented by Voltzia and by equisetums and ferns.
In England, the Bunter sandstones frequently act as valuable reservoirs of underground water; sometimes they are used for building stone or for foundry sand. In Germany some of the harder beds have yielded building stones, which were much used in the middle ages in the construction of cathedrals and castles in southern Germany and on the Rhine. In the northern Eifel region, at Mechernich and elsewhere, this formation contains lead ore in the form of spots and patches (Knotenerz) in the sandstone; some of the lead ore was worked by the Romans.
For a consideration of the relationship of the Bunter beds to formations of the like age in other parts of the world, see Triassic System. (J. A. H.)
BUNTING, JABEZ (1779–1858), English Wesleyan divine, was born of humble parentage at Manchester on the 13th of May 1779. He was educated at Manchester grammar school, and at the age of nineteen began to preach, being received into full connexion in 1803. He continued to minister for upwards of fifty-seven years in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, London and elsewhere. In 1835 he was appointed president of the first Wesleyan theological college (at Hoxton), and in this position he succeeded in materially raising the standard of education among Wesleyan ministers. He was four times chosen to be president of the conference, was repeatedly secretary of the “Legal Hundred,” and for eighteen years was secretary to the Wesleyan Missionary Society. Under him Methodism ceased to be a society based upon Anglican foundation, and became a distinct church. He favoured the extension of lay power in committees, and was particularly zealous in the cause of foreign missions. Bunting was a popular preacher, and an effective platform speaker; in 1818 he was given the degree of M.A. by Aberdeen University, and in 1834 that of D.D. by Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., U.S.A. He died on the 16th of June 1858. His eldest son, William Maclardie Bunting (1805–1866), was also a distinguished Wesleyan minister; and his grandson Sir Percy William Bunting (b. 1836), son of T. P. Bunting, became prominent as a liberal nonconformist and editor of the Contemporary Review from 1882, being knighted in 1908.
See Lives of Jabez Bunting (1859) and W. M. Bunting (1870) by Thomas Percival Bunting.
BUNTING, properly the common English name of the bird called by Linnaeus Emberiza miliaria, but now used in a general sense for all members of the family Emberizidae, which are closely allied to the finches (Fringillidae), though, in Professor W. K. Parker’s opinion, to be easily distinguished therefrom—the Emberizidae possessing what none of the Fringillidae do, an additional pair of palatal bones, “palato-maxillaries.” It will probably follow from this diagnosis that some forms of birds, particularly those of the New World, which have hitherto been commonly assigned to the latter, really belong to the former, and among them the genera Cardinalis and Phrygilus. The additional palatal bones just named are also found in several other peculiarly American families, namely, Tanagridae, Icteridae and Mniotiltidae—whence it may be perhaps inferred that the Emberizidae are of Transatlantic origin. The buntings generally may be also outwardly distinguished from the finches by their angular gape, the posterior portion of which is greatly deflected; and most of the Old-World forms, together with some of those of the New World, have a bony knob on the palate—a swollen outgrowth of the dentary edges of the bill. Correlated with this peculiarity the maxilla usually has the tomia sinuated, and is generally concave, and smaller and narrower than the mandible, which is also concave to receive the palatal knob. In most other respects the buntings greatly resemble the finches, but their eggs are generally distinguishable by the irregular hair-like markings on the shell. In the British Islands by far the commonest species of bunting is the yellow-hammer (E. citrinella), but the true bunting (or corn-bunting, or bunting-lark, as it is called in some districts) is a very well-known bird, while the reed-bunting (E. schoeniclus) frequents marshy soils almost to the exclusion of the two former. In certain localities in the south of England the cirl-bunting (E. cirlus) is also a resident; and in winter vast flocks of the snow-bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), at once recognizable by its pointed wings and elongated hind-claws, resort to our shores and open grounds. This last is believed to breed sparingly on the highest mountains of Scotland, but the majority of the examples which visit us come from northern regions, for it is a species which in summer inhabits the whole circumpolar area. The ortolan (E. hortulana), so highly prized for its delicate flavour, occasionally appears in England, but the British Islands seem to lie outside its proper range. On the continent of Europe, in Africa and throughout Asia, many other species are found, while in America the number belonging to the family cannot at present be computed. The beautiful and melodious cardinal (Cardinalis virginianus), commonly called the Virginian nightingale, must be included in this family.
(A. N.)
BUNTING (a word of doubtful origin, possibly connected with burnt, to sift, or with the Ger. bunt, of varied colour), a loosely woven woollen cloth for making flags; the term is also used of a collection of Bags, and particularly those of a ship.
