1823.] the principal Mountain Chains of Europe* 285 



wider distance by the subjacent lias ; and still further by the red 

 marl, which, with a few occasional interventions of coal-mea- 

 sures, reposes on the transition and primitive chains of Bretagne 

 and la Vendee on the west ; of Limousin, Auvergne, Forez, 

 Beaujolais, and Morvan on the south, and of the Vosges on the 

 east. 



The oolites of this range form the lofty hills known by the 

 name of cote d'or. Here the oolites approach closely to the 

 primitive chain of Morvan. M. Boue says, that the inuschel- 

 kalkstein may be traced completely round the Vosges. 



4. South of France surrounding the Basin of the Garonne. — 

 The tertiary basin of this district is described by M. Boue as 

 limited by Bayonne, Carcassouc, Montaubon, and Talmont. 

 This is succeeded on the north by Jura limestone, covered by 

 iron sand, &c. 



In approaching the Pyrenees, he has observed a band of 

 Jura limestone succeeded by quadersandstein with lignite^ 

 reposing in some places (as near l)ax) on muschelkalkstein. 



(D.) Northern Germany, 



The muschelkalkstein is here found among the formations 

 skirting the Hartz, both on the north and on the south, ranging 

 in the former direction on the south of Hanover and Brunswick,* 

 and on the latter forming a platform in the country between the 

 Hartz and the Thuringerwald, on the escarpment of which it is 



* M. Boue in one of the letters to which I have so often referred gives the following 

 description of the muschelkalkstein of Brunswick, which is the best I have yet seen. 



" This formation lies above the variegated sandstone. Its organic remains ave- 

 encrinites and pentacrinites, some species of terebratula, especially the subrotunda and 

 carnea, pectir.es, venericardia? 'i a bivalve badly preserved and unascertained, but gene- 

 rally and loosely classed as musculites, an univalve approximating to turbo, an ammo- 

 nite not carinated, a small indistinct univalve, uncertain whether nautilus or serpula, and 

 many singular markings in the form of elongated and serpentine cylinders which might 

 be, perhaps, considered as merely accidental configurations of the calcareous paste, but 

 yet from their ramification, &c. assume an appearance resembling that of the Isis tribe. 

 The masses of lead glance, occasionally found in this formation, at once distinguish it 

 from the Jura limestone, yet in the lowest members of this muschelkalk are portions of 

 an oolitic texture closely associated with the subjacent variegated sandstone. 



'• Above it lies an argillaceous, calcareous, and arenaceous formation, in which slate- 

 clay, more or less bituminous, alternates. In the under part, it alternates with a few 

 beds of a limestone like the muschelkalk, but without shells ; in other parts, and espe- 

 cially in the upper, with a compact sandstone, with a calcareous or argillaceous cement. 



" The whole is covered with the quadersandstein, a formation often with a siliceous, 

 cement, and very compact, but at other times of very slight coherence. Associated with 

 and beneaih this formation, I observed two beds of a compact calcareous marl, with, 

 fragments of pinna, retaining their shelly texture, and not petiified. 



" The argillaceous forx.atior. contains in the bituminous portions mineral charcoal, frag- 

 ments of bituminous wood, and a kind of pitch coal used in some places as fuel, and. 

 impressions of monocjtyledenous vegetables. 



'' Ammonites (of the subdivision planulites), of small size, occur abundantly, but are 

 confined to particular beds ; in others a large common ammonite with sound back and 

 hot carinated is found in ironstone ncdults. I observed also a species of terebratula ? 

 or, perhaps, gryphites; one or two species of donax ; three or four unascertained 

 bivalves; an univalve somewhat resembling clasilia; and more rarely remains of very 

 fine psntacrinites." 



