1846.] MuacHisoN on the geology of scania, etCu 35 



prevalent, and thus, however the lower calcareous zone may be 

 attenuated in reference to other districts, and however visible in 

 patches only on the surface of this low country, the Silurian series 

 of Scania maintains, through certain typical shells, its continental 

 and general divisions of Upper and Lower. 



To the west of Ofved Kloster the Upper Silurian rocks above-de- 

 scribed are bounded by a depression occupied by the Vombsjon and 

 other sheets of water, with intermediate tracts of loose sand, which 

 depression is flanked on the west by a low ridge of granitic rocks 

 that ranges from N.N.W. to S.S.E., i. e. from Hardeberga on the 

 N.N.W. by Romele Klinte to near Skarby. This granitic ridge 

 thus forms an axis which separates the depression with its lakes, and 

 all the low Silurian tracts on the east, from the country of Malmoe 

 and Lund on the west, To whatever extent covered by clay, sand, 

 detrital matter and boulders, this latter district is presumed from 

 certain outcrops to belong essentially to the Cretaceous series. 



Though it formed no part of our object to examine in detail the 

 secondary rocks of Scania, we should certainly (had the season not 

 been so far advanced) have visited the coast sections to the north 

 of Lund, where lignite coal with many fossil plants occur (notably 

 at Hoganaes), as also the patch of sandstone at Hor, or Hoer, 

 which is loaded with fossil plants, and which, as described by 

 Professor Nilsson, is considered by most geologists, including Pro- 

 fessor Forchhammer, to belong to the Jurassic series, and to be 

 possibly of the same age as the coaly strata of the eastern moorlands 

 of Yorkshire. Nilsson is indeed of opinion that some of these plants 

 (the most abundant of which are the Nilssonia elongata and N. bre^ 

 vifolia with several species of Pterophyllus) are identical with spe- 

 cies from the Yorkshire Oolite. 



But this point requires further examination, since M. Ad. Bron-* 

 gniart and Dr. Mantell have suggested, that the plants of Scania 

 may belong to the Wealden formation*, and the presence of animal 

 remains will doubtless be required before the question can be satis- 

 factorily settled. However this may be, true chalk and cretaceous 

 rocks are visible as detached masses in many parts of Scania, and 

 many of their fossils have been described by Nilsson. 



I may here observe that at Christianstadt we were delighted to 

 inspect some very rich collections of fossils obtained by M. Malm 

 from various patches of chalk adherent to the crystalline rocks 

 around that place. This ardent young collector asserts that he has 

 found about 300 distinct species, and nearly 200 more than have 

 been published by Professor Nilsson. 



* InhisM^ork, the 'Medals of Creation,' p. 125, Dr. Mantell, referring to the 

 plants of Hoer, states that their general analogy to those of the Wealden led M. 

 Ad. Brongniart to suppose that the plants in question may belong to that forma- 

 tion, and that M. Nilsson himself, when in England, identified some of his species 

 with undescribed forms collected by Dr. Mantell at Tilgate. 



It seems indeed to be the prevalent opinion, that the terrestrial flora which 

 prevailed during the Jurassic series is pretty nearly the same as that which 

 occurs in the Wealden and lower greensand deposits. Hence no safe inference can 

 be drawn concerning the age of Hoer from an examination of the plants alone, 



d2 



