Remains in the Oolite Series of England and France. 87 



General View of the Oolitic Series of Burgundy [according to 

 M. Elie de Beaiimovt). 



" If we proceed from Flogny to Ancy-le- Franc, we observe 

 the following rocks rise successively from beneath the green- 

 sand and chalk. 



" 1. Compact limestone which corresponds in its position 

 with the Portland stone of English geologists. 



" 2. A system of marly limestone and gray marl charac- 

 terized by the Gryphaea virgula (Kimmeridge clay). 



" 3. A very thick series of compact limestones with a con- 

 choidal fracture, of limestones with an earthy and cretaceous 

 fracture, and oolite (Oxford oolite, coral rag). 



" 4-. Beds of a gray marl}' limestone with an earthy fracture, 

 (calcareous grit, Oxford clay). 



" From beneath these last rise the limestones, often oolitic, 

 which form the plains and plateaux on the South of Ancy-Ie- 

 Franc, limestones which are precisely the same with those of 

 the Chammes d'Avenay, and the Vallee de I'Ouche, near the 

 Pont d'Ouche. 



" If the facts above mentioned are correctly stated, and if 

 the long cliff or escai-pment (the course of which through the 

 north-eastern provinces and centre of France was noticed 

 fifty years since by Guettard,) really contain the Oxford clay 

 and coral rag among the beds of which it is composed, we 

 may see the Bath oolite and Calcaire a polypiers in the oolite 

 limestone, the beds of which rise on all sides fronx beneath 

 those of the cliff. The yellowish-white and marly limestone 

 of Burgundy would then represent the Fullers' earth of the 

 English, and the Banc bleu of Caen ; the entrochite limestone 

 would be the inferior oolite ; and the second marly stage, which 

 rests immediately on the gryphite limestone, would correspond 

 with the thick marls which in England cover the lias. We 

 should then see that the constancy of the geological facts, no- 

 ticed in Great Britain, Normandy, in the Bas Boulonnais, and 

 in the Ardennes, is preserved in Burgundy, as might be ex- 

 pected a priori *." 



General Viexo of the Oolite of the South of France [according to 

 M. Dtfrenoy). 



" In the secondary basin of the S.W. of France, separated 

 from that of Paris by the mountains of Auvergne, Limousin, 

 and La Vendee, the oolite series may be divided into three 

 distinct groups, corresponding with tlie three systems of the 

 same formations in England. The separation of these groups 

 • Anualct des Sciences KaturcUcs. Juillct iHiJi). 



is. 



