THK PLIOCENE sKIMKS ;(j:5 



Lamberti, Nassa reticosa, N. labiosa, Purpura tetragona, Pecten maxi- 

 mus, and P. Gerardi. These br>l> an- regarded by Mr. Harmer as 

 the equivalents of the Walton Crag ; he points out that Neptunea 

 contraria is as abundant as in the English Beds, while no specimen 

 of the dextral form N. antiqua has been found in the Scaldisian. 



No newer beds are found near Antwerp, but borings in Holland, 

 and especially at Utrecht and Amsterdam, have traversed a great 

 thickness of Pliocene, and prove that all the zones thicken greatly 

 toward the north. Thus the Utrecht boring was carried to a depth 

 of 1198 feet without reaching the base of the Pliocene, and this 

 depth is divided as follows by Mr. Harmer : 



Feet. 



Recent and Pleistocene deposits .... 513 



[ Amslelian, yellow sands .... 262 



Pliocene-! Xcaldisian, grey glauconitic sands . . 123 



[Casterlian, grey glauconitic sands . . 300 



1198 



Here, therefore, the Pliocene Series is probably at least 700 

 feet thick. The shells obtained from the Amstelian include 

 Nucula Cobboldift, Yoldia lanceolata, Curdium edule, Cardium groKti- 

 landicum, Tellina prcetenuis, Mactra subtruncata, Mya arenaria, and 

 Littorina littorea, an assemblage which corresponds to that of the 

 later parts of the Red Crag. 



2. France 



In the north-west of France there are a number of small patches 

 of reddish sand and blue clay containing a marine fauna which 

 is claimed to be Upper Miocene by Mr. Dollfus, but which has 

 generally been regarded as Pliocene, and the latter view is 

 supported by Mr. C. Reid. These tracts occur, some in the 

 Cotentin, near Carenton and Valognes ; some in He et Vilaine, 

 near Rennes and Redon ; and some still farther south, both north 

 and south of the valley of the Loire. According to Mr. Dollfus 

 the fauna is substantially the same at all localities. Cardita 

 striatistrina, C. aculeata, Venus fallax, Nassa prismatica, N. 

 mutabilis, and Turritella incrassata are some of the characteristic 

 shells. 



In the Cotentin the basement-bed is a layer of rolled pebbles 

 with teeth and bones of Miocene and Eocene animals, together 

 with shells of Terebratula grandis. This bed is overlain at 

 Gourbesville by sands, and at St. Martin d'Aubigny by greenish 

 clays, and the faunas of these two deposits are not quite the 

 same. Mr. Reid states 22 that of 143 species from Gourbesville 91 



