UPPER SANDSTONES. 233 



belemnites, pinnites, and others. It is plain that the 

 description given of the rock, or the series itself, might 

 he that of any sandstone ; hut it is esteemed to he one 

 of its distinguishing features, that it hreaks and wears 

 into singular squared forms ; producing walls and 

 spires and ridges, as hetween Blankenherg and Hal- 

 herstadt, along the Elbe, at Goslar, and in other places. 



Though uncertain whether the Ferruginous sand will . 



remain a separate deposit in the opinions of gelogists, 

 I may describe its characters in England, if it occurs 

 on the continent, most observers there include it with 

 the green sand. It succeeds to the oolithe limestone, 

 and though partial, presents, in some places, beds of 

 considerable thickness. It consists of sand and sand- 

 stone, commonly very ferruginous, and therefore ge- 

 nerally brown, or yellow. Conglomerate beds occur 

 in it, together with clay, marl, and fullers' earth. It 

 sometimes contains hematite and ochre, with lignites of 

 various character, and traces of ferns and other vege- 

 table remains, which have deceived coal surveyors into 

 the expectation of the true coal series. The fossil 

 shells appear to be rare, but include nautilites, ammo- 

 nites, belemnites, ostroae, terebratulse, and echini, with 

 sponges and corallines,. 



The Green sand, which is the last and uppermost of 



the sandstones, lying; immediately beneath the chalk, -^ 

 is a much more important deposit, since it occurs in 

 abundance on the Continent of Europe, as well as in 

 England ; as also in France, in the Alps of Switzer- 

 land, in Savoy, in ^Germany, and elsewhere ; often 

 forming masses of great depth, as it does even in 

 Scotland, where the.se upper strata are so rare. This 

 also consists both of loose sand and of sandstone ; and 

 though the sand is siliceous, the cement is generally 

 calcareous, while th,e calcareous matter also, sometimes 



