43 



GIANTS AND PIGMIES. 



26. Tn find around the Paris Basin Sir Charles T-yell 

 madi^ a <lepartiirc in geological noinpnclature when he intro- 

 duced thrt terms Eocene — dawn of the new ; Miocene — less 

 new ; Pliocene — more new. Tlicse divisions were founded on 

 the mnrf. or less pn^portion of fossils analogous and identical 

 with shells now existing. These terms have been adopted, and 

 are generally used in geology. French geologists, however, 

 question " L'exactitude de ces lois," and regard the division 

 as purely nominal and equivalent to that which divides the 

 Tertiary formations into inf(M-ior, middle and upper, We have 

 used the Lyellian nomenclature occasionally in preceding Nos. 

 As we are now farther to examine the Paris Basin, we give 

 the above explanation, Wo niay have occasion to use French 

 divisions in preference, as we have already sometimes done. 

 As we now intend to direct attention to the great physical 

 changes which supervened. The nummulitic formations call 

 for special consideration. We first, directed attention to their 

 occurrence at Pont Ste. Maxence ; second,' at the outside of 

 Porte de Versailles, and third, at Meudon between the Chalk 

 and the Lower Limestone. Higher in the P»asin above what 

 is called the *' Sables de Beau champ," ^F. Ilebert places another 

 nummulitic formation which is called supcrienr, making the 

 preceding inferie.iir. We would indicate the position of this 

 upper numnndite zone. In No. 18 we had got as far up in 

 the Paris Basin as the " Calcairo nnlliolites" of the Centilly 

 quarries. The next stage upward is " Sables de Beauchamp," 

 (the Sands of Beauchamp,) and then come the upper nunimulites 

 in question. We go to the " Gare du Nord," the station of 

 the Northern Pailway by which on former occasions we went 

 to Pont Ste. Maxence. We only take return tickets to the 

 Herblay and Beauchamp Station. Reaching our destination 

 we look around us and observe wlwt seems to be a quarry 

 some distance to the right — wo walk to it and find it to be an 

 old quarry. There is a bed of llmtstone of some thickness and 

 nn accumulation of rubbish, largely sand. Li this we find 

 abundance of shells, Cerithla and Melania of certain species. 

 This is the sand — Sables do Beauchamp — still it is not in 

 position (in situ) and therefore , not altogether satisfactory. 



