Geological Society. 2 i 1 



On the south bank of the Seine, though the cliffs appear similar, 

 yet in consequence of a fault the lower argillaceous bed which covers 

 the ferruginous sand has been brought down to the level of the shore ; 

 and has led to the error that the argillaceous beds on the two shores 

 were of the same age ; and that the argile (VHonfleur, like that on the 

 north bank, was identical with the Kimmeridge clay, though it ac- 

 tually overlies the iron sand. 



Beyond Honfleur a marshy plain succeeds, composed to the depth 

 of two feet of a marl containing such freshwater shells as Lymnaea, 

 Cyclas, Planorbis, &c. At Cricque-boeuf a bed of clay, similar to that 

 at Havre, rises to the surface, covered by a few inches of the green 

 and ferruginous sands ; and as the characteristic shells are found in 

 its upper part there can be no doubt of this also being analogous to 

 the Kimmeridge clay. About a mile to the westward it is seen rest- 

 ing on a calcareous close-grained rock, which from its nature and 

 fossil shells, and abundance of coral, the author considers equivalent 

 to the coral rag ; and states that the upper part cannot represent the 

 Portland beds, for the whole distinctly underlies the Kimmeridge 

 clay. Near the mouth of the Toncque a deposit of clay rises from 

 beneath these calcareous strata, alternating with their lower beds and 

 forming bold cliffs from near Villers-sur-mer to Dives. Fossil remains, 

 both animal and vegetable, are abundant j in the upper part Gry- 

 phcea dilatata and Ostrea gregarea in numerous thin beds. The remains 

 of vertebrated animals are not very numerous, but bones of saurians 

 and fishes are occasionally found. Mr. Pratt gives a list of the fos- 

 sils found in the Argile de Dives, which he assimilates to the Oxford 

 clay. 



This clay is again seen at a short distance from the mouth of the 

 Orne overlying a calcareous oolitic group, consisting of numerous 

 fissile beds full of shells and fragments of coral, usually considered 

 identical with the cornbrash ; but which Mr. Pratt considers as ap- 

 proaching much nearer to the forest marble of the west of England. 

 Thev pass into others less oolitic, containing numerous genera of co- 

 rals and shells, and overlie two beds of marly rubbly stone passing in 

 their lower parts into a clay filled with fossils chiefly of Terebratula 

 digona and plicata, Avicula i?iaquivalvis, Jpiocrinites rotundus, &c. 

 Together they form a mass about eight feet thick, but varying at 

 short distances and resting upon a hard crystalline limestone, verv 

 little oolitic, composed of broken shells and corals, stems of Encri- 

 nites and Pentacrinites, and the corals for which this locality is 

 famous in the fissures. This stone is generally thought to pass into 

 the freestone of Caen ; the author thinks it more probable that it 

 overlies it, but thins off towards the S.W. The Caen stone is usually 

 considered to represent the great oolite, but Mr. Pratt remarks that 

 the few fossils found in it, as Terebratula ipiwsa, Sec, resemble 

 those of the inferior oolite. In examining the cliffs near St. Hono- 

 rine, the lias, in consequence of a fault, may be seen for a few hun- 

 dred yards forming their base. The contact of the lias filled with 

 Belemnites with the inferior oolite is here marked by a highly ferrugi- 

 nous oolitic bed, only a few inches in thickness, but containing almost 



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