lxviii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



M. Dumont adds that it is doubtful whether the Old Eed exists at 

 all in Belgium, so that he abandons his former conclusions ; and as 

 he adds, that, though the divisions established by Murchison on fossil 

 evidence in England were good for that country, they would be found 

 palaeontologically different in Belgium and other countries, it is quite 

 evident that he had not then succeeded in establishing, by his system 

 of examination, the true age of the Belgian rocks, and that the 

 ultimate application of the English system was necessary to reduce 

 this important geological district into order, It is indeed with 

 regret that we observe so able a man persevering in ignoring the 

 well-known names of Silurian and Devonian and adhering to that of 

 Anthracitiferous, which must perplex rather than inform the geo- 

 logist ; but, making a fair allowance for his high respect for his old 

 master in the science of geology, D'Halloy, which manifestly inter- 

 fered with his examination of the older rocks, it is evident that 

 however able in many respects his classification, more especially that 

 of 1852, was, it is gratifying to turn to his researches on the Tertiary 

 strata. Here his judgment was less shackled ; and I freely quote the 

 following practical observations with which that profound Tertiary 

 geologist, Mr. Prestwich, has favoured me. 



M. Dumont now directed his attention to the Tertiary strata, 

 which until that time were in a most perplexing state of confusion. 

 "Without any clearly-established order of superposition, with fossils 

 belonging to upper beds placed in the lowest beds, and with no 

 accurate sections, it was impossible for foreign geologists to establish 

 their correlation with the Tertiary strata of the adjacent countries. 

 One equivalent deposit only had been distinctly recognized, viz. the 

 relation of the Brussels Sands to the Calcaire Grossier of Paris ; but 

 all previous descriptions of the beds above and below that group were 

 full of inaccuracies and very incomplete. This in part was owing to 

 the want of natural and artificial sections, arising from the flatness 

 of the country and the scarcity of building- stones in the Tertiary 

 series. In 1839, in a report to the Eoyal Academy of Brussels, M. 

 Dumont gave his first sketch of the classification of the Belgian 

 Tertiaries, dividing them into a series of " systems " distinguished by 

 local names. This plan he from time to time enlarged and improved, 

 still retaining the original groundwork, and finally establishing ten 

 principal groups, of which the following is a list : — 



1. Scaldisian System. 1 -py 



2. Diestian System. J 



3. Bolderian System. - 1 1ir . 

 A-n v a 4. ~, r Miocene. 



4. Kupelian system. J 



5. Tongrian System. 



6. Laeckenian System. 



7. Bruxellian System. -^ 



8. Paniselian System. ^ 



9. Ypresian System. 

 10. Landenian System. 



To establish the correlation of these groups, M. Dumont visited 



