244 



TERTIARY BEDS OF THE LOIRE. 



fully confirmed, we must range the strata of Alpnach, not in the 

 lower, but in the middle group of tertiary strata. 



In a work like the present, it would not be possible or desirable to 

 follow the French and German geologists, in their descriptions of the 

 different basins that contain the upper tertiary or quaternary strata, 

 supposed to be superior to any of the tertiary beds in the Paris basin, 

 or in England ; but the most remarkable of these formations may be 

 noticed : — " The Faluns, or marls of Touraine and the Loire, con- 

 stitute an extensive formation of marl beds, which are now admitted 

 to be of later date than the most recent of the fresh-water beds in 

 the Paris basin. From the soft quality of the marl, it might hence 

 be inferred that the beds had been disturbed or changed by inunda- 

 tions, or might be classed with diluvial beds ; but they are regular 

 depositions, formed during an epoch of tranquillity, and subjected to 

 laws of which the action is continued on the present shores. The 

 great mass of fossil shells which these beds contain, differ from those 

 of the Paris basin : in nearly four hundred species, there are only 

 about twenty identical with the Paris fossils. The terrestrial and 

 river shells are in the same state of mineralization as the marine 

 shells. The bones of the mastodon, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, 

 are in the same state of preservation as those of whales, and other 

 cetaceous animals, with which they are intermixed. They are coat- 

 ed with marine polypi and serpulse, which proves that they were long 

 covered by a tranquil and stationary sea. These Faluns are distinct 

 from the tertiary beds of the Seine, and more recent than any of 

 them ; but they are themselves the lowest term of a new system, 

 more important, more extensive, than the formations of the Paris or 

 London basins, and which has been continued to the present epoch, 

 during all the numerous up-heavings of the ground, the changes in 

 the relative level of seas and continents, and the successive modifi- 

 cations of organic beings." — Bulletin de la Societe Geologiqve de 

 France, 1831-32, tome 11. 



It is stated that the lowest bed of the Faluns, rests upon a bed 

 analogous to the upper part of the Paris basin, which is supposed to 

 have extended so far. If this were clearly made out, we should 

 have the evidence of position, as well as of organic remains, to de- 

 termine the relative age of the Faluns of the Loire, which is sup- 

 posed to be the age of mastodons. In opposition to this, I have part 

 of the tooth of an elephant, which, in the hand writing of Faujas 

 St. Fond, is said to have been found at Montmartre, and is evidently 

 from the marl beds. Here, then, we have remains of an animal of 

 the most recent tertiary age, occurring in a formation more ancient 

 than the age of mastodons. Such instances should lead us to re- 

 ceive the evidence from animal remains alone with much caution. 

 Indeed, there is good reason to believe, that in North America, the 

 age of mastodons was continued to nearly the present epoch, if the 

 animal be not still living in some of the unexplored recesses of that 

 yast continent. 



