332 



FLORA OF UPPER CRETACEOUS PERIOD [Cn. x ™. 



Hamite (fig*. 325) and Scaphite, with other fossils, characterize this 

 formation, which, small as is its thickness, can be traced by its 

 organic remains to distant parts of Europe, as, for example, to the 

 Alps. 



Fig. 325. 



Aneyloceras spinigerum, D'Orb. Syn. Ramites spitiiger, Sow. Hear Folkestone. Gault. 



The Blackdown beds in Devonshire, celebrated for containing many- 

 species of fossils not found elsewhere, have been commonly referred 

 to the Upper Greensand, which they resemble in mineral character ; 

 but Mr. Sharpe has suggested, and apparently with reason, that they 

 are rather the equivalent of the Gault, and were probably formed on 

 the shores of the sea, in the deeper parts of which the fine mud called 

 Gault was deposited. Several Blackdown species are common to the 

 Lower Cretaceous series, as, for example, Trigonia caudata, fig. 334, p. 

 344. We learn from M. d'Archiac, that in France, at Mons, in the 

 valley of the Loire, strata of greensand occur of the same age as the 

 Blackdown beds, and containing many of the same fossils. They are 

 also regarded as of littoral origin by M. d'Archiac. * 



The phosphate of lime, found near Farnham, in Surrey, and near 

 Cambridge, in such abundance as to be used largely by the agricul- 

 turist for fertilizing soils, occurs in the Upper Greensand. It is doubt- 

 less of animal origin, and partly coprolitic, derived from the excre- 

 ment of fish and reptiles. In this formation near Cambridge the late 

 M. Louis Barrett discovered, in 1858, the remains of a bird, which was 

 rather larger than the common pigeon, and probably of the Order 

 Natatores, and which, like most of the Gull tribe, had well-developed 

 wings. Portions of the metacarpus, metatarsus, tibia, and femur have 

 been detected, and the determinations of Mr. Barrett have been con- 

 firmed by Professor Owen. 



FLORA OF THE UPPER CRETACEOUS PERIOD. 



As the upper cretaceous rocks of Europe are, for the most part, of 

 purely marine origin, and formed in deep water far from the nearest 

 shore, land-plants of this period, as we might naturally have antici- 



* Hist, des Progres de la Geol., &c, vol. iv. p. 360. 1851. 



