FORMATION OF NORTHERN GERMANY. 135. 
Frederick Hoffmann has referred some deposits of the neigh- 
bourhood of Halberstadt to the gault; but I do not know what 
he can have taken for it: I have not seen there even the flammen- 
mergel. 
Fitton maintains his having observed the gault at Aix la 
Chapelle and at Liege*; we are however inclined to doubt the 
correctness of his observation, especially as neither chalk marl 
nor lower greensand are met with at those localities; only the 
upper members of the chalk occur there. 
If the entire chalk formation were to be divided only into two 
sections, we should terminate the lower with the gault; since it 
contains a most peculiar creation, and very few fossils only which 
belong to the more recent deposits of the chalk-series. 
VI. Lower Greensanp:—Shanklin sand. [Der Quader:— 
Glauconie Sableuse, gres Vert.| 
The entire formation consists in England of green, gray, red, 
yellow and white sand and sandstones; with subordinate layers 
of hornstone, limestone, and Fuller’s earth. 
In Kent, and part of Surrey and Sussex, three subdivisions 
of it may be distinguished, which are— 
1. The upper; consisting of sand with concretions of lime- 
stone, iron and hornstone; which latter are there called 
“chert,” and possess a grayish-yellow or greenish colour, 
conchoidal fracture, and a glimmering lustre (Schimmern- 
den Glanz). 
2. The central; consisting of argillaceous and ferruginous 
greensand. 
3. The lower ; consisting of sandstones, which are frequently 
coloured green by silicate of iron, and contain a larger 
amount of lime; they are called “ Kentish rag.” 
The total thickness of the lower greensand has been estimated 
in England at 400 feet t. 
* On this point M. Romer’s information appears to have been inaccurate ; 
the author here referred to having stated expressly that the gault is wanting at 
the places specified, and mentioned its absence as one of the principal cir- 
cumstances distinguishing the subcretaceous series there from that of England. 
—See Geol. Soc. Proceedings, 1829, vol. i. pp. 163, 164.—Trans. 
+ During the last year it has been ascertained that the lower greensand, 
near Hythe in Kent, is about 406 feet in thickness; but that near Atherfield, 
in the Isle of Wight, not much less than 800 feet.—Trans. 
