1844.] 303 



many corals and other remains, I have arrived at the conclusion 

 that the whole of the New Jersey series agrees in its chronological 

 relations with the European white chalk, or, to speak more pre- 

 cisely, with the formations ranging from the Gault to the Maes- 

 tricht beds inclusive. Among the shells, in detei'mining which I 

 have been assisted by Professor E. Forbes, not more than five out 

 of sixty seem to be quite identical with European species ; but 

 several others approach very near to, and may be the same as 

 Europeans ; and at least fifteen may be regarded as good geo- 

 graphical representations of well-known chalk fossils belonging for 

 the most part to beds above the Gault in Europe. There are a 

 few very peculiar forms among the American testacea, such as 

 Terebratula Sayii Morton ; and I found among the univalves a 

 Bulla, but casts of the genus had previously been mentioned by 

 Dr. Morton, and although not yet known in the European chalk 

 a species occurs on the Continent in beds of the Jurassic system. 



In the upper or straw-coloured limestones, I found on the banks 

 of the Timber Creek, twelve miles south-east of Philadelphia, six 

 species of corals* and several echinoderms, chiefly allied to upper 

 cretaceous forms. The same calcareous formation also abounds in 

 Foraminifera characteristic of the chalk, comprising, among others, 

 the genera Cristellaria, Rotalina, and Nodosaria. Besides the 

 shells there are also several remains of fishes, and of the series ob- 

 tained by myself all those referred to the genus Lamna resembled 

 species occurring in our chalk. They have been examined for me 

 by Sir P. Egerton. One of them seems to approach very closely 

 to Lamna oppendiculata, and another comes very near to Galeus 

 pristodontus ; and indeed, if we may judge by so few specimens, 

 seem identical. These are fossils of our upper chalk in Europe. 

 There are also several forms of Carcharias not very unlike some 

 tertiary species given me from the New Jersey chalk, several of 

 which are figured by Dr. Morton ; I will not dwell upon these 

 however, since in Europe also there are many of the cretaceous 

 Squalid^ which can scarcely, when the teeth alone are con- 

 sidered, be distinguished specifically from tertiary fossils. 



There are three Saurian vertebrse in the New Jersey green sand 

 in the collection of the Geological Society, which I have submitted 

 to Mr. Owen's inspection. One of these, from the green sand of 

 MuUica Hill, is the anterior dorsal vertebra of the Mosasaurus. 

 Another is the posterior cervical vertebra of a Pliosaurus, a genus 

 which Mr. Owen has constituted to include a portion of the Ple- 

 siosauri, and which approach still more nearly to the true Saurians. 

 The vertebra in question resembles very closely that of Pliosaurus 

 hrachydeirus of the Kimmeridge clay. Until very lately, the Ple- 

 siosaurian type was not known higher in the series than in the 

 Oolites ; but it has now been shown to ascend to the chalk of Eu- 

 rope, so that its occurrence in the New Jersey strata is in strict 

 accordance with European analogies. The third specimen (pre- 



* These have been described by Mr. Lonsdale, and the description and figures 

 will be given at the end of the present paper. 



