‘Parr IIL, Sec. iii.§2] CRETACEOUS. 829 
higher contains at its base a clay with Belemnites minimus, and at its top 
the widely diffused and characteristic “ Flammenmergel ”—a pale clay 
with dark flame-like streaks containing the zone of Ammonites inflatus.1 
The upper Cretaceous rocks of Germany present the greatest litho- 
logical contrast to those of France and England, yet they contain so 
large a proportion of the same fossils as to show that they beleng to the 
same period, and the same area of deposit. The Cenomanian forma- 
tion consists in Hanover of earthy limestones and marls, which traced 
eouthward are replaced in Saxony and Bohemia by glauconitic sandstones 
(Unter-Quader) and limestone (Unter-Plinerkalk). The lowest parts of 
the formation in the Saxon, Bohemian, and Moravian areas are marked 
by the occurrence in them of clays, shales, and even thin seams of coal 
(Pflanzen-Quader), containing abundant remains of a terrestrial vegeta- 
tion which possesses great interest, as it contains the oldest known forms 
of bard-wood trees (willow, ash, elm, laurel, &c.). The Turonian beds, 
traced eastwards, from their chalky and marly condition in the Anglo- 
Parisian Cretaceous basin, change in character, until in Saxony and 
Bohemia they consist of massive sandstones (Mittel-Quader) with 
limestones and marls (Mittel-Pliner). In these strata the occurrence 
of such fossils as Inoceramus labiatus, I. Brongniarti, Ammonites peramplus, 
Scaphites Geinitzn, Spondylus (lima) spinosus, Terebratula semiglobosa, &c., 
shows their relation to the Turonian of the west. The Senonian group 
presents a yet more extraordinary variation in its eastern prolongation. 
The soft upper chalk of England, France, and Belgium, traced into 
Westphalia, passes into sands, sandstones, and calcareous marls, the 
sandy strata increasing southwards till they assume the gigantic dimen- 
sions which they present in the gorge of the Elbe and throughout the 
picturesque region known as Saxon Switzerland (Ober-Quader). ‘The 
horizon of these strata is well shown by such fossils as Belemnitella 
quadrata, B. mucronata, Nautilus danicus, Marsupites ornatus, Bourgueticrinus 
ellipticus, Crania ignabergensis, &c. 
Switzerland and the Chain of the Alps.?—-This area is included 
in the southern basin of deposit. In Switzerland the Neocomian groups 
are so well developed that they have thence received their collective 
name. ‘heir average thickness there in the region of the Jura is about 
130 feet, but they greatly exceed this in the Neufchatel district. They 
consist of blue marls (Marnes de Hauterive) with Toxaster complanatus, 
Bhynchonella depressa, &c., surmounted by a yellow bedded limestone. 
In the Alpine region the Neocomian formation is represented by several 
hundred feet of marks and limestones, which form a conspicuous band in 
the mountainous range separating Berne from Wallis, and thence into 
Eastern Switzerland and the Austrian Alps (Spatangenkalk, Schratten- 
_ kalk). Some of these massive limestones are full of hippurites of the 
Caprina group (Caprotinenkalk with Caprotina Lonsdalei, Radiolites 
neocomiensis, &c.), others abound in polyzoa (Bryozoenkalk), others in 
foraminifera (Orbitolitenkalk). The Gault is recognizable as a thin 
band of greenish sandstone and marls, which have long been known for 
their numerous fossils (Perte du Rhone, St. Croix). They are traceable 
in the Swiss Jura and the Alps of Savoy. In the Vorarlberg and 
1 Geol. Mag. vi. (1869), p. 261. 
2 Studer’s Geologie der Schweiz; Giimbel, Geognostische Beschreib. Bayer. Alpen, 
vol. i. p. 517 et seg.; Geognostische Beschreib. des Ostbayer. Grenzegebirg. 1868, p. 697; 
Von Hauer’s Die Geologie der Oesterr. Ungar. Monarchie, 1878, p. 505, ef seq. 
