1823.] the principal Mountain Chains of Europe. 287 



with the sand of the inferior oolite, and reckon the subjacent 

 Wurtzbourg muschelkalk as the equivalent of our lias. Nos. 3, 

 4, 5, would then represent the oolites of our middle or upper 

 system ; but. these are points which cannot be fully settled until 

 resident geologists shall arise on the spot, and publish detailed 

 accounts of its structure and fossils. 



Near Ratisbon the Jura limestone is covered, according to 

 Buckland and Boue, by deposits of green sand and chloritose 

 chalk ; the solenhofen lithographic strata belong, I believe, to 

 one of the beds in the upper part of the series of Jura limestones, 

 perhaps corresponding to our chalk mail. 



Here the beds decline to the south, plunging beneath the 

 trough of tertiary formations which intervenes between this 

 chain and the Alps, and rising north, present their outcrop in 

 the escarpment on that side. 



In its passage through Wirtemberg, the chain presents, along 

 the base of its northern escarpment, decided lias at Boll, &c. 

 south of Esslingen; a ferruginous sand (that of our inferior 

 oolite) succeeds ; and then the oolitic series forming the great 

 mass of the hills. 



By tracing this escarpment from this point to Bamberg, and 

 examining the relations of the Wurtzbourg platform with refer- 

 ence to this chain in the vicinity of Stutgard, much of the 

 obscurity I have alluded to would probably be removed ; 

 because we here stand on certain ground as to the identity of the 

 Boll rocks and the English lias, which would afford a secure 

 basis to the other terms of the comparison. 



Merian is said to have published a good account of this chain 

 in the vicinity of Basle,* but I regret not having been able to 

 consult it. 



There is a very interesting description of the part of this 

 chain near Lons de Saulnier by Mr. Charbant, in which it 

 appears that its base is composed of red and variegated marl 

 containing gypsum ; that on this reposes an extensive formation 

 of beds of gryphite limestone (lias), alternating with marls con- 

 taining fossils exactly similar to those which characterise this 

 formation in England ; that these are covered by a series of 

 oolitic beds, the lowest of which (like our inferior oolite) abounds 

 in ferruginous particles, and is surmounted by a fine granular 

 oolite and freestone, forming the escarpment of the first terrace 

 of these hills ; and lastly that, above this first terrace, are others 

 each presenting an oolitic series based on argillaceous beds 

 which separate it from that beneath. 



We have here, therefore, the enumeration of the lower forrna- 



• The denudation of the Rhtin, that near Basle, exhibits a patcli of primitive and 

 transition rocks, over which the calcareous beds of the Jura extend. This patch is pro- 

 bably connected with the primitive rocks which further north emerge in the chain of the 

 Jllack Forest. 



