GREENSAND FOSSILS. 229 



fossiliferous group of Neufchatel. The principal 

 difference between the continental and English 

 greensand fauna, is stated by Professor E. Forbes 

 to consist in the abundance of gasteropoda and 

 cephalopoda in the former, and of acephalous bi- 

 valves in the latter. 



Greensand fossils.* — The organic remains of 

 the greensand to be met with along this coast are 

 almost exclusively shells ; but few traces of the 

 higher orders of animals, or of plants, have hitherto 

 been observed. It should, however, be borne in 

 mind, that remains of land reptiles, and trees, and 

 plants, have been found in strata of this forma- 

 tion in Kent ; similar relics may therefore occur 

 in the same deposits in the Isle of Wight.-f- 



Of the vegetable kingdom but few vestiges have 

 been discovered. The laminae of lignite in the 

 upper ferruginous beds, and obscure traces of fuci 

 in some of the lower sandstones, are the only in- 

 dications of the flora of this geological epoch that 

 have come under my notice. But remains of the 



* The finest collection of the organic remains of the greensand of the Isle 

 of Wight is, I believe, that made by Captain Ibbetson, and now exhibited in 

 the Polytechnic Institution of London. The Geological Society has the most 

 complete series of the shells, principally contributed by Dr. Fitton, and 

 named by Professor Forbes. Figures of most of the species will be found in 

 " Mineral Conchology," Dr. Fitton's "Memoir," and in the "Geological 

 Journal," vol. i. 



t See " Wonders of Geology," vol. i. p. 394. 



