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1878. Excursions of the Geological Soc. France, 1878. 73 
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litique downwards, and various characteristic fossils were found, 
including previously unsuspected species of the American genera 
Empo and Saurodon. 
An agreeable feature of the occasion was a lunch offered by 
Prof. Chancourtois, member of the society, in his garden at Meu- 
don, which was appreciated as such occasions generally are by 
hungry geologists. 
The excursionists then examined the orange sands and sandstone 
of the Lower Miocene, at Bellevue, called the Sables de Fontaine- 
bleau, well known as the horizon of the Halitherium. From this 
point the quarries of the upper beds ot the Lower Miocene, of 
the Meuliéres de Beauce, were visited. This formation, exten- 
sively distributed near to Paris, consists of red and yellow clay, 
filled with large siliceous concretions which contain the casts of 
great numbers of seeds of Chara and small Lymnaee. At this 
locality it forms the summit of a hill, from which a magnificent 
view of the country to the eastward ishad. At its foot is the valley 
of the Seine, abounding in villages, villas and vineyards, and on 
its opposite side a range of hills bounds the horizon. The most 
elevated portion of the ridge bears the fort and hospital of Mount 
Saint Valerien. 
The second excursion was to Etampes, Morigny and Jeurres, 
at a distance of thirty-five miles from Paris. It passed over the 
Miocene beds above mentioned, and visited some richly fossilifer- 
ous localities of the Sables de Fontainebleau. 
The third excursion was to Maignelay, at about the same dis- 
tance from Paris, where the party explored the lignites of the 
Suessonien, and the lowest bed of that formation, the Sables de 
Bracheux, 
On the oth of September the excursionists took the rail to 
Gournay, on the border of Normandy, from which point they 
passed on foot and by omnibus over a hilly and beautiful country. 
The region is rich and one of the most beautiful in France. The 
farmers have left and planted many trees, and the agriculture is 
of a superior character. Here under the direction of M. Lap- 
parent, the party viewed the outcrops of the Kimmeridge, Port- 
land, Neocomien, Greensand, Gault, and Cenomanien, and col- 
lected Tngonia, Gervillia kimmeridgensis, Hybodus, Terebratula, 
with numerous species of Ostrea, and Exogyra, etc. The dinner 
