776 Excursions of the Geological Soc. France, 1878. {December, 
forest to Pierrefonds, on the opposite side. This place is a large 
village, and is celebrated for its immense chateau which stands in _ 
the middle of the town. It dates from the fourteenth century, 
and was restored during the late superintendency of M. Viollet 
le Duc. From this point the excursion passed on foot, accom- 
panied by the carriages, entirely through the forest in a new 
direction. The general inferiority of the timber in size and 
variety, to that to which the American is accustomed at home, 
was very obvious. It protects several species of deer and 
numerous wild boars. Wolves are said to be still found there, 
and I was informed that they had considerably increased in num- 
bers during the late war with Germany. 
Between the Calcaire Grossier and the series of the Suessonian 
or Lignite and Argile Plastique, is an extensive series of sands 
and sandy marls which are not present in the exposure seen at 
Vanves during the first excursion. They are called the Sables de 
Cuise and are referred to the upper part of the Lower Eocene or 
Suessonian. The present excursion had for its object the exam-. 
ination of this formation. We first found it in banks on the road 
side, where great numbers of Cerithia, Turritelle, etc., lay exposed. 
Our collectors could hardly leave these for a small quarry off the 
road, where incredible numbers of these shells, with Cardia, 
Solaria, Trochi, Neritine, Dentalia, etc., etc., covered the mounds 
that stood around or could be sifted from the banks. This is one of 
the classic localities to which, as to many others visited by these 
excursions, the palzontologist turns with something like rever- 
ence, as the sources of our first knowledge, and hence the stand- 
ard of comparison for later times and other countries ; in fine, as 
the field of the daily labors of the fathers of paleontology, 
_ Lamarck, Deshayes, Cuvier and De Blainville. 
Leaving this attractive locality, the excursionists passed to 
some high banks of sand bordering other roads. This stratum 
is one of the lower members of the Middle Eocene or’ Calcaire 
Grossier in the wide sense. Here we found abundant teeth of 
sharks, Oxyrhina, Lamna, Otodus, etc., with spines of Myliobatis. 
_ We soon after took our carriages for the return to Compiégne, 
= which we reached in time for dinner. Our arrival in Paris was 
late in the evening. 
