282 Reviews — C. Siruckmann — The Wealden of Hanover. 



of 120 metres, and belong to the Upper Kimmeridge. Over these 

 follow dark-coloured beds, twelve metres in thickness, of almost 

 black marly limestone and shales. Eich in fossils, as Exogyra virgula, 

 Pecten concentricus, Gervillia ohtusa, G. tetragona, Cardium eduli forme, 

 Isocardia striata, Cyprina Brongniarti, Thracia incerta, Corbida 

 mosensis, C. inflexa, C. alata, Turritella minuta, and rarely also Serpnla 

 coacervata. These beds belong to the Lower Portland, and on them 

 rest beds of the Upper Portland with few fossils, on which follows 

 the Serpulit or Purbeck Limestone, consisting of very different 

 strata, such as hard blue siliceous limestone, fine Oolitic limestone, 

 clayey and sandy marls, with clay and sandstone, in which thirty 

 species of organic remains are known. Serpula coacervata is found 

 alone, and whole banks are filled with this Annelid — hence the 

 name Serpulit. 



II. The Middle Wealden, or the group of Hastings sandstone, 

 rests upon the Serpulit. It consists of thick beds of fine-grained, 

 yellowish-white, or greyish durable sandstone, which for its ex- 

 cellent quality has been employed in building Cologne Cathedral ; 

 and other hard beds called Blaustein are used for road material. 

 The thickness of the sandstone amounts to 500 feet, and some of its 

 beds contain a rich fossil flora of thirty-three species. The following 

 are the most abundant : Sphenopteris ManteUi, Pecopteris Geiniizii, 

 Mantonidium Goepperti, Microdictyum Dunkeri, Hausmannia dichotoma, 

 Anomozamites Schaumburgense, Sphenopteris Sternhergiana, Sph. 

 Kurriana, Spirangia Jugleri. The MoUusca consist of moulds and 

 compressed shells. The osseous remains of Fish and Saurians are 

 rare, but single scales of Sphaerodus semiglobus and Lepidotus 

 ManteUi are abundant. Our author has found at Bad Eehburg the 

 foot-prints of Reptilian animals, Ornithoidichiites, similar to those 

 described and figured by Mr. Beckles, from the Hastings sandstone 

 of Bexhill, near Hastings. 



HI. The Upper Wealden or Weald Clay consists of dark grey or 

 blackish, thin-bedded, friable sandy shales and marl ; a quartzite 

 rock with thin beddings of limestone, and an abundance of Cyrena, 

 Cyclas, Corbida and Melania species, Melania strombiformis, Melania 

 rngosa, Paludina fluviorum, and other beds with Cyrena species, 

 Cypris, and Fishes' scales. The Upper Wealden varies in thickness 

 from 15 to 40, and &5 to 77 metres. The fauna of this Upper 

 member of the Wealden is limited to a few species, as Mytilus 

 membranaceus, Modiola lithodomus, JJnio MenJcei, many species of 

 Cyrena, Corbula and Cyclas, with Melania harpaeformis, M. strombi- 

 formis, M. rugosa, Paludina, Litorinella, Planorbis, Cypris Valdensis 

 and two others, and the remains of Fishes, as Pycnodus, Sphaerodus, 

 Hybodus ; of fossil plants only indistinct traces have been found. 



Under the lowest member of the Wealden, the Munder-Mergel, 

 lies the Einbeckhauser limestone, which belongs to the Upper 

 Portlandian, representing a portion of the Upper Jura, and forming, 

 it may be, passage-beds from the Portland to the Wealden. The 

 Serpulit maintains by its organic remains the predominant character 

 of the Wealden, so that it cannot be separated from both the upper 



