older Deposits of the North of Germany and Belgium. 243 



strono' beds of dark-coloured limestone, partly of earthy structure and partly subcrystalline, con- 

 tainino- many impressions of Strigocephalus. The limestone beds alternate with, and seem to 

 pass into, grey earthy marls, containing Strigocephalus, Gypidia, Megalodon, Buccinum, Tur- 

 ritella (IHurckisonia), and many other fossils of the Paffrath group, in great abundance. 

 4-. After a considerable interruption, and still farther on the dip side of the strata, is an open quarry 

 which descends as far as the Gladbach group. The section is as follows : — 

 (1.) Dark-coloured arenaceous and impure fetid limestone (not burnt for lime), sepa- 

 rated by carbonaceous partings, and containing small spined ProductcB, &c., and 



impressions of grassy plants like those of the culm-measures of Devon 14 feet. 



(2.) Strong hard beds of dark fetid limestone with carbonaceous partings : pure enough 



to be burnt for lime 20 — 



(3.) Impure, porous, sandy beds, containing in their upper part an irregular bed of 

 impure, pyritous, coaly matter several inches thick, and passing into beds of 



impure gritty limestone with partings of carbonaceous shale 14 toL5feet. 



(4.) Seven or eight beds of dark-coloured limestone, burnt for lime 10 — 



(5.) Grey-coloured calcareous flagstone, alternating with meagre, absorbent, shaly 



matter, &c. They form a passage into the beds of our next group 25 — 



Gladbach group. — It is several hundred feet in thickness, and hardly admits of any regular subdivisions,, 

 being essentially composed of calcareous flagstone, alternating with bands of laminated meagre marls. 

 In its mode of bedding it resembles the upper division of the magnesian limestone near Ferry Bridge. 

 The flagstones here and there run together, so as to form thick beds, which are sometimes cellular, like 

 magnesian limestone, sometimes recomposed or brecciated, like certain limestones of Devonshire. The 

 ripple-mark is common on some of the thin beds alternating with the bands of marl ; and in the middle 

 portion of the group the laminated marls almost exclude the beds of more pure limestone, which are only 

 worked in the upper and lower divisions of the quarries. 



Refrath group. — The best quarry we examined was about a quarter of a mile south of the village, and 

 gave the following section : — 



1. Strong beds of light, grey-coloured limestone. 



2. Blue shale, with concretionary calcareous bands ; very full of corals and shells. Many of well-known 



Eifel species, including Cyrthoceratites compressus, Goldf. {Phragmoceratites subventricosus, see 

 posted Description of Fossils and Tabular List), C. depressus, Terebratula prisca, See. 



3. Yellow-coloured marls, and grey and yellowish jointed limestone, alternating as far as the section 



was exposed to view. The whole thickness of the above beds about 200 ieei. 



Bensberg. — The quarries near the Bensberg road are too obscure to deserve any particular description. 

 Among them are beds of a dark blue, hard, subcrystalline limestone, with veins of white calc-spar. The 

 beds alternate with variously coloured calcareous shales and marls, and occasionally pass into a compact 

 state with a conchoidal fracture. The shells and corals, though less abundant, are of the same species 

 with those of the preceding quarry (^Refrath group). 



Considering the great length of the traverse across the strike, the constancy of 

 the dip towards the south-east, and the great angle of inclination (on the average 

 not less than 35°), the computed thickness of the whole Bensberg series would 

 be enormous. That its thickness (notwithstanding the obscure position which it 

 occupies) is very great there can be no doubt ; but it is possible, from the discon- 

 nected position of the quarries, and especially from the long interruption between 



