368 Prof. Germar on the Petrifactions of Oslerweddigen. 



with respect to the formation it belongs to, as well as to the 

 genera and species of shells that it contains, appears to differ 

 from the sand- and inarl-strata of England and France, which 

 likewise contain fossil remains. 



This stratum consists partly of coarse, and partly of fine 

 loose quartz-sand, somewhat of a greenish colour (on the sur- 

 face at least), and varying in thicliness from a few inches to 

 more than afoot. It rests upon the new red sandstone [? bun- 

 ten sandsteifigebiirge), which crops out there, the sand entering 

 into its fissures and ci'acks ; and is covered by the clay-marl 

 (mergclleiineji), which, as is well known, lies upon our brown- 

 coal bed. It is difficult to decide whether this stratum of sand 

 appertains to the brown-coal rock, or to the later clay-rock 

 {leimengebi)ge), or whether it belongs to those formations which 

 occur near Paris, as intervening between our brown-coal and 

 clay-rock. A nest of brown-coal was indeed found beneath 

 the clay {leimen), but the stratum of sand was so narrow at the 

 place, that their relative situations to each other could not be 

 ascertained. 



In this sand, a great number of bivalve and univalve shells 

 are found, partly as fossils, partly in the state of casts ; and 

 only a few of them retaining their nacreous lustre. The casts, 

 on the contrary, consist of a dark greenish-gray, and mostly 

 fine foliated, argillo-calcareous ironstone, and their surface 

 is not unfrequently still coated with a thin layer of enamel. 

 These casts are likewise contained in the lowermost layers of 

 clay. In the sand, there are also found nodules of the same 

 calcareous ironstone, which appear in places as united toge- 

 ther by means of casts of the various genera, interwoven with 

 each other ; and these nodules are seldom found destitute of 

 petrifactions. The occurrence of these fossil bodies, together 

 with their proper casts, at the same time, becomes particu- 

 larly intei'esting ; because it enables us to compare the one 

 with the other, and affords proof, that casts of shells assmne, 

 very frequently, a totally different form from that of the ori- 

 ginals. It is also remarkable, that the secretion, as it were, 

 of the solid argillo-calcareous ironstone from the mass of sand, 

 appears to have been effected in a particular manner by the 

 organic bodies, even if we could not ascribe to them any further 

 influence than the affording, by their hollow spaces, oppor- 

 tunity and room for secretion ; and that, where numbers were 

 lying together, they presented collecting points for the mass. 



The following is an enumeration of the fossil remains 

 found here, which altogether originate from maiine animals ; 

 and which, on that account, allow us to presume that they do 

 not belong to the brown-coal formation; for that includes the 

 remains of land- or fresh-water-animals only. No 



