[ 95 ] 



XIX. Collections in Foreign Geology. — [No. II.] By H. T. 

 De LA Beche, Esq. F.R., L., and G.S. Sfc. Sfc. 



[Continued from p. 10.] 



3. Notice on the Geology of the Environs ofAntiscrp; by M. de 



la Jonkaire*. 

 ^FTER some preliminary observations, in which the little 

 attention that had been paid to the superior or tertiary 

 rocks of Belgium is stated, the author proceeds ; 



" The deepest excavations made (in the environs of Antwenj) 

 are those for the docks ; the lowest bed entered is not well known 

 to me, and I could not obtain exact information on this head. 

 I however presume that it is composed of a calciferous clay. ' 



"Above this is a gray clay, sometimes mixed with sand, com- 

 monly possessing considerable tenacity, and approachino- the 

 plastic clay in its mineral characters. It appears that ?bssil 

 shells were not met with, or at least so rarely as to have escaped 

 observation. Still rising, a second bed is observed ; this is very 

 thick, composed of a chloritic and quartzose sand, and filled 

 with shells, among which we may remark the genera Cyprina, 

 Pectimadus, Turritella, and especially many species of Astarte. 

 It is also in this bed, and towards its lower part, that the bones 

 of Cetacea are met with. From thence to the vegetable soil 

 was a bed of sand without shells, about thirty feet thick, often 

 containing siliceous pebbles. From this it appears the dock 

 exposed four distinct thick lieds. The same beds were found 

 when digging a pond at Deure, a village situated a lea<vue 

 from Antwerp ; the sandy and shelly bed being raised, and 

 within seven feet of the surface. Here also bones were found 

 m the deepest part of the work; and as this was not carried 

 beyond the clay, it appears probable these bones were, like 

 those in the docks, in the lower part of the shelly sand. 



" At Stuyvenberg, on another side of the town, fossil shells 

 have been found, which, instead of being contained in a quart- 

 zose sand, were in a conglomerate of small pebbles, aggluti- 

 nated by a calcareous cement, and sometimes replaced by cal- 

 careous nodules resembling certain non-decomposed parts of 

 the lower beds of the calcuire grossier. It is near this latter 

 place that we have seen those sections which expose the shelly 

 sand, and that without shells, which so generally covers this 

 country. The ibnner bed is formed of a quartzo'se sandstone 



• !>Vom ihc Mhnoircs de la Soc'wli (f lUsloirf Katurcllc dc rarix, vol. i.; 

 this IS interesting, as it contains an account of the prolongation of part of 

 the tertiary l.eils of London ;nid tlic K. of Knj^'land upon the continent. 



colon reil 



