1855.] MURCHISON AND MORRIS — THE HARZ. 447 



sils, and is followed by representatives of both the lower and upper 

 Jurassic deposits, often in rapid undulations. 



In Hanover and Brunswick the Cretaceous group is singularly well 

 developed : for beneath it there is a genuine representative of the 

 Wealden ; whilst the true base of the group is the distinct northern 

 German equivalent of the Neocomian limestone of southern Europe, 

 called here the " liils-conglomerat." The remainder or really great 

 mass of the Lower Greensand of England has no adequate representa- 

 tive ; and the siliceous sandstones, on the north flank of the Harz, 

 which from mineral character were formerly considered as such belong 

 to a much higher member of the Cretaceous series. 



The formation, however, which the German geologists term Gault, 

 may be said to represent both the upper portion of oar Lower Green- 

 sand and the Gault proper. Tn the interesting collection of M. v. 

 Strombeck, we observed indeed as Gault fossils certain species which 

 are found in our Lower Greensand. 



The Lower " Quader Sandstein," in which much iron occurs, and 

 the upper part of which is charged with many green grains, contains 

 the fossils of our Upper Greensand, and is supposed to be of older 

 date than the "Planer Sandstein" of Saxony. 



The Upper " Quader Sandstein," which forms those remarkable 

 walls of rock to the N.E. of Blankenburg, and which were formerly 

 taken for Lower Greensand, is in fact the equivalent of the White 

 Chalk of Western Europe ! It contains, in short, many of the most 

 characteristic fossils of that subdivision. The plants collected by the 

 zealous botanist, M. Hempe of Blankenburg, afford an instructive 

 illustration of the fossil flora of these upper cretaceous rocks. 



There is still an " Oberste Quader Sandstein," representing the 

 very highest beds of our Chalk. 



These siliceous strata, standing in the place of the Upper Chalk, 

 are followed near Goslar by a great mass of whitish chalky-looking 

 rock, which is in truth an old Tertiary rock. This also seems to be 

 thrown abruptly off the chain, in common with the secondary strata. 



In thus briefly adverting to the vertical, disrupted, shattered, or 

 convoluted strata of secondary age on the north flank of the Harz, or 

 along its chief granitic frontier, we should do injustice to the subject 

 if we did not call attention to the praiseworthy and precise labours of 

 M. von Strombeck of Brunswick. W^e visited that city purposely to 

 inspect the collections which that gentleman has made there during 

 a series of years, and were delighted with the clear order in which he 

 had arranged the fossils of his neighbourhood, — from the base of 

 the Trias to the younger Tertiary strata. It is truly a remarkable 

 collection ; and, in respect to the magnificent specimens of the 

 Enci'inus liliiformis of the Muschelkalk, is quite unrivalled. As, 

 however, it would require a separate treatise and a detailed survey of 

 the country to enable us to describe the result of the labours of 

 M. von Strombeck, we confine ourselves to pointing out, in few 

 words, a striking physical phaenomenon which he has brought into a 

 clear light, and to illustrate which he has prepared excellent sections, 

 which are not yet published. 



