FRESHWATER EOCENE STRATA. 101 



gypseous limestones, and siliceous millstones, with 

 marine sands and clays. It was from the gypsum 

 quarries of Montmartre that those relics of ex- 

 tinct mammalia were obtained, which the genius 

 of the illustrious Cuvier called forth from their 

 rocky sepulchres, and invested anew with the 

 forms and lineaments of life.* 



In the Isle of Wight the freshwater series con- 

 sists of marls, limestones, and shelly concretions, 

 with intercalations of clay, marl, and sand; the 

 gypseous marls and limestones, and the siliceous 

 millstones of the Paris group are altogether want- 

 ing. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the two 

 formations were contemporaneous, for the relics of 

 Cuvierian pachydermata have been discovered in 

 the Binstead limestones (see PI. II.). 



The freshwater eocene strata of the Island, which 

 are spread over the whole of the northern part, 

 are denoted on the map {PI. XX.) by pink on a 

 plain ground ; the marine beds appear on the 

 surface as a narrow band extending along the 

 northern flank of the chalk downs, and are in- 

 dicated by the same colour on a ground shaded 

 with parallel lines. The localities which exhibit 

 the most instructive sections of the marine and 

 freshwater deposits in their natural order of 



* Wonders of Geology, vol. i. p. 240. 



