1893.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 117 



JoLann Moberf? has recently* described a Cambrian fauna 

 from sandstones in Sweden, containing glauconite layers. One 

 type of a rock was a greenish, mostly laminated, fine-grained 

 blending of light-colored quartz fragments, small white mica 

 scales and glauconite grains, the two latter esi^eciall}' plentiful 

 in certain layers. Another type was a fine light blue-gray 

 sandstone, with abundant quartz, scattered glauconite grains, 

 and calcareous cement. These rocks appear to be the same in 

 character as the glauconite layers and quartzose sandstone of our 

 Div. Ib^ at Hanford Brook. No mention, however, is made of 

 jjhosphate nodules. 



The presence of glauconite with the nodules suggests analogies 

 to those found in the Cretaceous Greensands of England. These 

 have been studied very thoroughly by Mr. "W. Sollas"}", Rev. 

 Osmond Fisher^, and others. In the presence of sponge 

 spicules, foraminifera, etc., and in the glauconite accompanying 

 them, they show a great resemblance to ours. But the form is 

 different, being irregular or finger-shaped, with usually a hollow 

 centre. The spicules are Hexactinellid, and seemingly much 

 more numerous, and are often connected as if in place, which I 

 have not been able to observe in any of ours. The English 

 nodules are considered to be Yentriculite sponges, in which the 

 organic matter has combined with and been replaced by phos- 

 phate of lime. 



The Tertiary nodules of South Carolina are very variable in 

 their character and, as mined, are mostly rolled and water- 

 worn. They do not seem to be generally associated with 

 glauconite. Some varieties contain abundant fossils, mostly 

 shells ; others are dark and compact, with no fossils. With 

 them are found great numbers of bones and sharks' teeth. 

 They are generally irregular in shape, often in large flattened 

 masses. Dr. Penrose§ considers that they are the result of the 

 phosphatization of mai'ly deposits, and that the nodular shape 

 is due to the tendency of the phosphate to collect in 

 concretionary forms. Dr. Shaler|| considers that their most 

 probable mode of origin was by the aggregation of lime 

 phosphate at the bottom of swamps. 



*0m en nyupptiickt fauna i block af Kambrisk sandsten, insamlade af dr. 

 N. 0. Hoist— Af J. C. Moberg (Aftryck ur Geol. Foreu i Stockholm Furhaudl., 

 Bd. 14, Haft 2, 1892.) 



t Quart. Jour. Geol. See, London, Yol. XXIX., p. 76. 



$ Op. cit., p. 52. 



§ U. S. Geol. Survey. Bull. No. 46, p. 69. 



II Op. cit., introduction. 



