512 



CENOZOIC TIME. 



the Eocene, there are thin leaf-beds of Miocene age, and about 100 

 feet of Pliocene. They are most largely developed over the " London 

 basin," covering part of southeastern England. From this region in 

 England, the Eocene spreads southward over the "Paris basin," a por- 

 tion of northern France, having Paris near its centre. The middle 

 Eocene, of the southern half of Europe and Asia and northern Africa, 

 is remarkable for the abundance of the coin-shaped fossil called Num~ 

 mulites (from the Latin nummus, a coin), a kind of Foraminifer or 

 Rhizopod secretion, as explained on page 131. Some limestones are 

 almost entirely made of Nummulites. The Nummulitic rocks extend 

 over large parts of the Pyrenean and Mediterranean basins, covering 

 portions of the Pyrenees, the Alps (constituting the summits of the 

 Dent de Midi, 10,531 feet, and of Diablerets, 10,670 above the sea- 

 level), the Apennines, and the Carpathians ; they extend into Egypt 

 (where the Pyramids were in part made of Nummulitic limestone) ; 

 also through Algeria and Morocco, parts of Asia Minor, Persia, Cau- 

 casus, India, the mountains of Afghanistan, the southern slopes of the 

 Himalayas, and to a height of 16,500 feet in western Thibet. They 

 occur also in Japan, on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, and in 

 Java. 



Later in the Tertiary, the beds were much less generally marine, 

 and more limited in extent, showing an approximation to the existing 

 era, in the condition of the continents. The Miocene had still a very 

 wide distribution over France, Switzerland, Belgium, etc., and is partly 

 marine. It has in Switzerland a thickness of 7,000 or 8,000 feet. 

 The Lower and Upper Miocene are of fresh water, while the Middle 

 is of marine origin. The beds underlie a large part of the region be- 

 tween the Alps and the Juras, and constitute some high summits, as 

 the Rigi, near Lake Lucerne. The Upper division, at CEningen, 

 afforded the famous Homo diluvii testis of Scheuchzer (in 1700) — 

 (shown by Cuvier to be an aquatic Salamander), and is noted also for 

 its fossil plants and insects. 



In the Pliocene era, there were some marine deposits in Britain. 

 The strata are most largely developed in Sicily, covering nearly half 

 the island, and having in some places an elevation of 3,000 feet above 

 the sea. 



The principal subdivisions of the Tertiary, in Britain and Europe, are the following: — 



1. Lower Eocene. — (1.) Thanet sands (fluvio-marine), of Britain, containing 

 rolled flints, etc.; the Lower Landenian of Belgium. (2.) Woolwich and Reading 

 beds, of Britain; Upper Landenian of Brussels, Argile Plastique et Lignite, Glau- 

 conie Inferieur of France. (3.) London Clay; Lower Ypresian of Belgium. 



2. Middle Eocene. — (1.) Lower Bagshot beds; Upper Ypresian of Belgium, 

 Lits Coquilliers and Glauconie Movenne of France. (2.) Bracklesham beds of Britain ; 

 Bruxellian of Duniont, Calcaire Grossier et Glauconie Grossiere of France. (Grobkalk, 



