344 Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison on the 



the numnmlite-grits of the Kressenberg- probably belonged to that part of the 

 series^ which is buried under the alluvion of the valley south of Siegsdorf*, 

 Now on examining- the fossils associated with the iron ore and other beds of 

 the Kressenberg system^ we found that they presented a series diderent from 

 any we have before described. Among them were no Ammonites or Belem- 

 nites, and no Spatangi like those in the lower g-roupsf; but tiiere were many- 

 Echini of other genera, out of which we may mention the magnificent Cly- 

 peaster of Goldfuss, and one or two other species of that genus J. We further 

 remarked, that the other fossils, though generally ill-preserved and specifically 

 unknown to us, resembled those of tertiary rather than of secondary for- 

 mations. We therefore concluded, not only that the Kressenberg iron ores 

 were in the highest part of the great nummulitic groups, but that they were 

 superior to the chalk. 



Our own imperfect collection might be thought insufficient to warrant such 

 a conclusion H ; but during a preceding year Count Miinster had obtained an 

 immense series of fossils from this locality, and after an elaborate examination 

 of them, published the following results. 



J St. Of 172 species of these fossils, 42 exist in, and are characteristic of, 

 the tertiary formations of Germany, England, Prance and Italy. 



2nd. There are three species, two of which resemble, and one of which 

 {Ostrea semiplana) is identical with, certain fossils of the chalk. 



3rd. Of the remaining 126 species, some are new, and others indetermi- 

 nable ; but for the most part they belong to such genera as are commonly 

 found in tertiary formations. 



* Plate XXXVI. fig. 6. 



t Dr. Boue (according to our view misled by tlie analogy of the Sonthofen deposit) appears to 

 assert that Belemnites are found in the Kressenberg. {Biillcdn des Sciences, Jain 1829, p. 329, 

 &c. &c.) We doubt the correctness of this assertion ; not as being opposed to our own obser- 

 vations, but on the authority of the Berg-Meister, who is the instructor of a small school of 

 mines, has personally superintended the excavation of the deposit for many years, and been in 

 the daily habit of collecting fossils from it. He not only denied that Ammonites and Belemnites 

 were ever found in it, but he pointed out to us, before we had examined the Kachelstein ridge, 

 that the Kressenberg (notwithstanding the deceptive nature of the dip) belonged to a higher 

 system. 



X See Petrejacten von Dr. Goldjuss, PI. 41. Fig. 6. 7. 8. 



•I It was formed during a season of heavy rain, when the marls were in such a state, that the 

 fossils could hardly be separated from them. They chiefly consist of casts which give no specific 

 characters. Mr. Sowerby has, however, made out the following list of genera from them : — Car- 

 dium, Venus, Area? Lucina, Crassatella? Gryphsa, Terebratula, Dianchora, Spondylus, Te- 

 redo, Turbo, Natica, Conus, Voluta, Murex or Rostellaria? Cypraea ? Trochus or Solarium, 

 and Nummulites. He adds that a Terebratula, Dianchora, Turbo, and Natica, resemble fossils 

 of the chalk, or green-sand, though the prevailing character of the group is tertiary. 



