214 



GfOLOQICAL OBSERVATIONS IN FRANCS. 



Sand, 



Caen river 

 building stone. 



Reddish, most whoUy disappears. A reddish, shelly calcareous stone 



stone/ is very abundant' on the shore. Imperceptibly the clitT rises 



again, and opposite the rocks called the l5Uick Cows it is 



Blue marie in- about 150 feet high, about two thirds of the lower part, be- 



cludiug fossil . 1 I • 1 1 • 1 1 1 • /■ r 1 



she\!s and '"g a blueish marie, include a large species ot tossjl oyster, 



traces of bitu- called the crested oyster, other petrifactions, and signs of bi- 

 miai-ied wood. ^ ... , n i ^ • i n 



tuminized wood. 1 he upper part is chalk. 



From Dives to Savenelles, or Sallenelles, at the mouth of 

 the Orne, nothing appears but sand, forming in some places 

 downs. On proceeding up the Orne, .near a mile and half 

 beyond Savenelles, arc quarries of a large grained cakarecnis 

 stone, soiled with yellow earth, lying in horizontal strat.T, 

 and used for building in the country round. 



From Gray, at the mouth of the Seule, no cliff is seen 

 till we come to Tracy, a village 8 or 10 miles to the west- 

 CUffof blueish south-west. There it is about 200 feet high ; and is formed 

 ireestoue. ^^ ^ ^^^y. fine grained bluoish freestone, tolerably hard, in- 

 terspersed with scah^s of mica, lying in horizontal strata, and 

 including a prodisious quantity of cornua Ammonis, some of 

 which are very large. The whole of this coast abounds in 

 fuel and other marinj plants. 



The sum.' calcareous freestone forms the substratum of the 

 soil from -BayouK to Littry, a village 5 miles to the south- 

 west. At Litt-r\ is a coalpit, that deserves the attention of 

 the naturalist. It was opened in 174-1, and has two shafts, 

 -one of v.hich, called St. George's, is 343 feet [36'8 Eng.] 

 deep, and has several extensive galleries issuing from it. The 

 thickness of the coal varies from 4^ to 9 feet [4 feet 10 in. 

 to 9 feet 7 in.] : it lies on a browni.sh calcareous freestone, 

 but It tie effervescent ; and this an a clay, very soft to the 

 touch, and not attackable by acids. At 250 feet [267 Eng.] 

 from the surface occurs a stratum of a- primitive congluti- 

 nated stone, composed of siliceous pebbles generally an inch 

 or tv'o in liiameter, nodules of steatite, and thin laminae of 

 coal, cemented by a finer freestone, which does not effer- 

 vesce with acids. , No petrifaction has yet been found in this 

 coal mine, except one branch of a tree, in which traces of 

 woody fibres are perceptible. The coal is in general very 

 sulphurous ; that of the best miality is sold on the S|)ol (or, 



^Q^. 



Cornua Am- 

 m^iiiis. 



Fuci. 



Coalpit. 



