SILURIAN GROUP.
Silurian strata formerly called transition--Term
grauwacke--Subdivisions of Upper and Lower Silurian--Ludlow formation
and fossils--Wenlock formation, corals and shells--Caradoc and
Llandeilo beds--Graptolites--Lingula--Trilobites--Cystideae--Vast
thickness of Silurian strata in North Wales--Unconformability of
Caradoc sandstone--Silurian strata of the United States--Amount of
specific agreement of fossils with those of Europe--Great number of
brachiopods--Deep-sea origin of Silurian strata--Absence of fluviatile
formations--Mineral character of the most ancient fossiliferous rocks.
We come next in the descending order to the most ancient of the primary
fossiliferous rocks, that series which comprises the greater part of the
strata formerly called "transition" by Werner, for reasons explained in
Chap. VIII., pp. 91 and 92. Geologists have also applied to these older
strata the general name of "grauwacke," by which the German miners
designate a particular variety of sandstone, usually an aggregate of small
fragments of quartz, flinty slate (or Lydian stone), and clay-slate
cemented together by argillaceous matter. Far too much importance has been
attached to this kind of rock, as if it belonged to a certain epoch in the
earth's history, whereas a similar sandstone or grit is found sometimes in
the Old Red, and in the Millstone Grit of the Coal, and sometimes in
certain Cretaceous and even Eocene formations in the Alps.
The name of _Silurian_ was first proposed by Sir Roderick Murchison, for a
series of fossiliferous strata lying below the Old Red Sandstone, and
occupying that part of Wales and some contiguous counties of England, which
once constituted the kingdom of the _Silures_, a tribe of ancient Britons.
The strata have been divided into Upper and Lower Silurian, and these
again in the region alluded to admit of several well-marked subdivisions,
all of them explained in the following table.
UPPER SILURIAN ROCKS.
Prevailing Thickness Organic
Lithological in Feet. Remains.
characters.
{ {Finely laminated } }
{Tilestones. { reddish and }800? }
{ { green sandstones } }
{ { and shales. } }
1. Ludlow { }Marine mollusca of
formation {Upper {Micaceous grey } } almost every order,
{Ludlow. { sandstone. } } the Brachiopoda most
{ } } abundant. Serpula,
{Aymestry {Argillaceous } } Corals, Sauroid fish,
{limestone. { limestone. }2000 } Fuci.
{ } }
{Lower {Shale, with } }
{Ludlow. { concretions of } }
{ { limestone. } }
{Wenlock }Concretionary } {Marine mollusca of
{limestone. } limestone. } { various orders as
2. Wenlock { } }1800 { before, Crustaceans
formation. { } } { of the Trilobite
{ } } { family.
{Wenlock }Argillaceous } {Oldest bones of
{shale. } shale. } { fish yet known.
LOWER SILURIAN ROCKS.
{Flags of shelly } {
{ limestone and } {Crinoidea, Corals,
3. Caradoc {Caradoc { sandstone, thick }2500 { Mollusca, chiefly
formation. {sandstones. { bedded white } { Brachiopoda,
{ freestone. } { Trilobites.
4. Llandeilo {Llandeilo }Dark coloured }1200 {Mollusca,
formation. {flags. } calcareous flags. } { Trilobites.
UPPER SILURIAN ROCKS.
_Ludlow formation._--This member of the Upper Silurian group, as will
be seen by the above table, is of great thickness, and subdivided into
four parts,--the Tilestone, the Upper and Lower Ludlow, and the
intervening Aymestry limestone. Each of these may be distinguished near
the town of Ludlow, and at other places in Shropshire and Herefordshire,
by peculiar organic remains.
1. _Tilestones._--This uppermost division was originally classed by
Sir R. Murchison with the Old Red Sandstone, because they decompose
into a red soil throughout the Silurian region. At the same time he
regarded the tilestones as a transition group forming a passage from
Silurian to Old Red. It is now ascertained that the fossils agree in
great part specifically, and in general character entirely, with those
of the succeeding formation.
2. _Upper Ludlow._--The next division, called the Upper Ludlow, consists of
grey calcareous sandstone, decomposing into soft mud, and contains, among
other shells, the _Lingula cornea_, which is common to it and the lowest,
or tilestone beds of the Old Red. But the _Orthis orbicularis_ is peculiar
to the Upper Ludlow, and very common; and the lowest or mudstone beds, are
loaded for a thickness of 30 feet with _Terebratula navicula_ (fig. 410.),
in vast numbers. Among the cephalopodous mollusca occur the genera
_Bellerophon_ and _Orthoceras_, and among the crustacea the _Homalonotus_
(fig. 418. p. 354.). A coral called _Favosites polymorpha_, Goldf. (fig.
401. p. 346.) is found both in this subdivision and in the Devonian system.
[Illustration: Fig. 409. _Orthis orbicularis_, J. Sow. Delbury.
Upper Ludlow.]
[Illustration: Fig. 410. _Terebratula navicula_, J. Sow. Aymestry
limestone; also in Upper and Lower Ludlow.]
Among the fossil shells are species of _Leptaena_, _Orthis_, _Terebratula_,
_Avicula_, _Trochus_, _Orthoceras_, _Bellerophon_, and others.[352-A]
Some of the Upper Ludlow sandstones are ripple-marked, thus affording
evidence of gradual deposition; and the same may be said of the
accompanying fine argillaceous shales which are of great thickness, and
have been provincially named "mudstones." In these shales many zoophytes
are found enveloped in an erect position, having evidently become fossil on
the spots where they grew at the bottom of the sea. The facility with which
these rocks, when exposed to the weather, are resolved into mud, proves
that, notwithstanding their antiquity, they are nearly in the state in
which they were first thrown down.
The scales, spines (_ichthyodorulites_), jaws, and teeth of fish of the
genera _Onchus_, _Plectrodus_, and others of the same family, have been met
with in the Upper Ludlow rocks.
[Illustration: Fig. 411. _Pentamerus Knightii_, Sow. Aymestry.
_a._ view of both valves united.
_b._ longitudinal section through both valves, showing the central plate
or septum; half nat. size.]
3. _Aymestry limestone._--The next group is a subcrystalline and
argillaceous limestone, which is in some places 50 feet thick, and
distinguished around Aymestry by the abundance of _Pentamerus Knightii_,
Sow. (fig. 411.), also found in the Lower Ludlow. This genus of
brachiopoda has only been found in the Silurian strata. The name was
derived from +pente+, _pente_, five, and +meros+, _meros_, a part, because
both valves are divided by a central septum, making four chambers, and in
one valve the septum itself contains a small chamber, making five; but
neither the structure of this shell, nor the connection of the animal with
its several parts, are as yet understood. Messrs. Murchison and De Verneuil
discovered this species dispersed in myriads through a white limestone
of upper Silurian age, on the banks of the Is, on the eastern flank of
the Urals in Russia.
[Illustration: Fig. 412. _Lingula Lewisii_, J. Sow. Abberley Hills.]
Three other abundant shells in the Aymestry limestone are, 1st, _Lingula
Lewisii_ (fig. 412.); 2d, _Terebratula Wilsoni_, Sow. (fig. 413.), which is
also common to the Lower Ludlow and Wenlock limestone; 3d, _Atrypa
reticularis_, Lin. (fig. 414.), which has a very wide range, being found in
every part of the Silurian system, except the Llandeilo flags.
[Illustration: Fig. 413. _Terebratula Wilsoni_, Sow. Aymestry.]
[Illustration: Fig. 414. _Atrypa reticularis._ Linn. Syn. _Terebratula
affinis_, Min. Con. Aymestry.
_a._ upper valve.
_b._ lower.
_c._ anterior margin of the valves.]
4. _Lower Ludlow shale._--A dark grey argillaceous deposit, containing,
among other fossils, the new genera of chambered shells, the _Phragmoceras_
of Broderip, and the _Lituites_ of Breyn (see figs. 415, 416.). The latter
is partly straight and partly convoluted, nearly as in _Spirula_.
[Illustration: Fig. 415. _Phragmoceras ventricosum_, J. Sow. (_Orthoceras
ventricosum_, Stein.) Aymestry; 1/4 nat. size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 416. _Lituites giganteus_, J. Sow. Near Ludlow; also in
the Aymestry and Wenlock limestones; 1/4 nat. size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 417. Fragments of Orthoceras.
_a._ Fragment of _Orthoceras Ludense_, J. Sow.
_b._ Polished section, showing siphuncle. Ludlow.]
The _Orthoceras Ludense_ (fig. 417.), as well as the shell last mentioned,
is peculiar to this member of the series. The _Homalonotus
delphinocephalus_ (fig. 418.) is common to this division and to the Wenlock
limestone. This crustacean belongs to a group of trilobites which has been
met with in the Silurian rocks only, and in which the tripartite character
of the dorsal crust is almost lost.
[Illustration: Fig. 418. _Homalonotus delphinocephalus_, Koenig.[354-A]
Dudley Castle; 1/2 nat. size.]
A species of Graptolite, _G. Ludensis_, Murch. (fig. 419.), a form of
zoophyte which has not yet been met with in strata newer than the Silurian,
occurs in the Lower Ludlow.
_Wenlock formation._--We next come to the Wenlock formation, which has been
divided (see Table, p. 351.) into
1. Wenlock limestone, formerly well known to collectors by the name of the
Dudley limestone, which forms a continuous ridge, ranging for about 20
miles from S.W. to N.E., about a mile distant from the nearly parallel
escarpment of the Aymestry limestone. The prominence of this rock in
Shropshire, like that of Aymestry, is due to its solidity, and to the
softness of the shales above and below. It is divided into large
concretional masses of pure limestone, and abounds in trilobites, among
which the prevailing species are _Phacops caudatus_ (fig. 422.) and
_Calymene Blumenbachii_, commonly called the Dudley trilobite. The latter
is often found coiled up like a wood-louse (see fig. 420.).
[Illustration: Fig. 419. _Graptolithus Ludensis_, Murchison. Lower Ludlow.]
[Illustration: Fig. 420. _Calymene Blumenbachii_, Brong. Wenlock, L.
Ludlow, and Aym. limest.]
[Illustration: Fig. 421. _Leptaena depressa._ Wenlock.]
[Illustration: Fig. 422. _Phacops caudatus_, Brong. Wenlock, Aym.
limest., and L. Ludlow.]
_Leptaena depressa_, Sow., is common in this rock, but also ranges through
the Lower Ludlow, Wenlock shale, and Caradoc Sandstone.
[Illustration: Fig. 423. _Catenipora escharoides._]
Among the corals in which this formation is very rich, the _Catenipora
escharoides_, Lam. (fig. 423.), or chain coral, may be pointed out as
one very easily recognized, and widely spread in Europe, ranging
through all parts of the Silurian group, from the Aymestry limestone
to the bottom of the series.
Another coral, the _Porites pyriformis_, is also met with in profusion; a
species common to the Devonian rocks.
_Cystiphyllum Siluriense_ (fig. 425.) is a species peculiar to the Wenlock
limestone. This new genus, the name of which is derived from +kystis+, a
_bladder_, and +phyllon+, a _leaf_, was instituted by Mr. Lonsdale for
corals of the Silurian and Devonian groups. It is composed of small
bladder-like cells (see fig. 425. _b._).
2. The Wenlock Shale, which exceeds 700 feet in thickness, contains
many species of brachiopoda, such as a small variety of the _Lingula
Lewisii_ (fig. 412.), and the _Atrypa reticularis_ (fig. 414.) before
mentioned, and it will be seen that several other fossils before
enumerated range into this shale.
[Illustration: Fig. 424. _Porites pyriformis_, Ehren. Wenlock limest. and
shale. Also in Aymestry limestone, and L. Ludlow.
_a._ Vertical section, showing transverse lamellae.]
[Illustration: Fig. 425. Cystiphyllum.
_a._ _Cystiphyllum Siluriense_, Lonsd. Wenlock.
_b._ Section of portion, showing cells.]
LOWER SILURIAN ROCKS.
The Lower Silurian rocks have been subdivided into two portions.
1. The Caradoc sandstone, which abuts against the trappean chain called the
Caradoc Hills, in Shropshire. Its thickness is estimated at 2500 feet, and
the larger proportion of its fossils are specifically distinct from those
of the Upper Silurian rocks. Among them we find many trilobites and shells
of the genera _Orthoceras_, _Nautilus_, and _Bellerophon_; and among the
Brachiopoda the _Pentamerus oblongus_ and _P. laevis_ (fig. 426.), which are
very abundant and peculiar to this bed; also _Orthis grandis_ (fig. 427.),
and a fossil of well-defined form, _Tentaculites annulatus_, Schlot. (fig.
428.), which Mr. Salter has shown to be referable to the Annelids and to
the same tribe as _Serpula_.
[Illustration: Fig. 426. _Pentamerus laevis_, Sow. Caradoc Sandstone.
Perhaps the young of _Pentamerus oblongus_.
_a, b._ Views of the shell itself, from figures in Murchison's Sil. Syst.
_c._ Cast with portion of shell remaining, and with the hollow of the
central septum filled with spar.
_d._ Internal cast of a valve, the space once occupied by the septum
being represented by a hollow in which is seen a cast of the
chamber within the septum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 427. Cast of _Orthis grandis_, J. Sow. Horderley;
two-thirds of nat. size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 428. _Tentaculites scalaris_, Schlot. Eastnor Park;
nat. size, and magnified.]
The most ancient bony remains of fish yet discovered in Great Britain are
those obtained from the Wenlock limestones; but coprolites referred to fish
occur still lower in the Silurian series in Wales.
[Illustration: Fig. 429. _Ogygia Buchii_, Burmeister. Syn. _Asaphus
Buchii_, Brong. 1/4 nat. size. Radnorshire.]
2. The _Llandeilo flags_, so named from a town in Caermarthenshire, form
the base of the Silurian system, consisting of dark-coloured micaceous
grit, frequently calcareous, and distinguished by containing the large
trilobites _Asaphus Buchii_ and _A. tyrannus_, Murch., both of which are
peculiar to these rocks. Several species of Graptolites (fig. 430.)
occur in these beds.
[Illustration: Fig. 430. _a_, _b_. _Graptolithus Murchisonii_,
Beck. Llandeilo flags.]
[Illustration: Fig. 431. _G. foliaceus_, _Murchison_. Llandeilo flags.]
In the fine shales of this formation Graptolites are very abundant. I
collected these same bodies in great numbers in Sweden and Norway in
1835-6, both in the higher and lower shales of the Silurian system; and
was informed by Dr. Beck of Copenhagen, that they were fossil zoophytes
related to the genera _Pennatula_ and _Virgularia_, of which the living
species now inhabit mud and slimy sediment. The most eminent naturalists
still hold to this opinion.
A species of _Lingula_ is met with in the lowest part of the Llandeilo
beds; and it is remarkable that this brachiopod is among the earliest, if
not the most ancient animal form detected in the lowest Silurian of North
America. These inhabitants of the seas, of so remote an epoch, belonged so
strictly to the living genus _Lingula_, as to demonstrate, like the
pteriform ferns of the coal, through what incalculable periods of time the
same plan and type of organization has sometimes prevailed.
Among the forms of trilobite extremely characteristic of the Lower Silurian
throughout Europe and North America, the _Trinucleus_ may be mentioned.
This family of crustaceans appears to have swarmed in the Silurian seas,
just as crabs, shrimps, and other genera of crustaceans abound in our own.
Burmeister, in his work on the organization of trilobites, supposes them to
have swum at the surface of the water in the open sea and near coasts,
feeding on smaller marine animals, and to have had the power of rolling
themselves into a ball as a defence against injury. They underwent various
transformations analogous to those of living crustaceans. M. Barrande,
author of a work on the Silurian rocks of Bohemia, has traced the same
species from the young state just after its escape from the egg to the
adult form, through various metamorphoses, each having the appearance of a
distinct species. Yet, notwithstanding the numerous species of preceding
naturalists which he has thus succeeded in uniting into one, he announces a
forthcoming work in which descriptions and figures of 250 species of
Trilobite will be given.
[Illustration: Fig. 432. _Trinucleus ornatus_, Burm.]
_Cystideae._--Among the additions which recent research has made to the
paleontology of the oldest Silurian rocks, none are more remarkable than
the radiated animals called _Cystideae_. Their structure and relations were
first elucidated in an essay published by Von Buch at Berlin in 1845. They
are usually met with as spheroidal bodies covered with polygonal plates,
with a mouth on the upper side, and a point of attachment for a stem _b_
(which is almost always broken off) on the lower. (See fig. 433.) They are
considered by Professor E. Forbes as intermediate between the crinoids and
echinoderms. The _Sphaeronites_ here represented (fig. 433.) occurs in the
Llandeilo beds in Wales.[358-A]
[Illustration: Fig. 433. _Sphaeronites balticus_, Eichwald. (Of the
family _Cystideae_.)
_a._ mouth.
_b._ point of attachment of stem.
Lower Silurian, Shole's Hook and Bala.]
_Thickness and unconformability of Silurian strata._--According to the
observation of our government surveyors in North Wales, the Lower Silurian
strata of that region attain, in conjunction with the contemporaneous
volcanic rocks, the extraordinary thickness of 27,000 feet. One of the
groups, called the trappean, consisting of slates and associated volcanic
ash and greenstone, is 15,000 feet thick. Another series, called the Bala
group, composed of slates and grits with an impure limestone rich in
organic remains, is 9,000 feet thick.[359-A]
Throughout North Wales the Wenlock shales rest unconformably upon the
Caradoc sandstones; and the Caradoc is in its turn unconformable to the
Llandeilo beds, showing a considerable interval of time between the
deposition of this group and that of the formations next above and below
it. The Caradoc sandstone in the neighbourhood of the Longmynd Hills in
Shropshire, appears to Professor E. Forbes to have been a deep-sea deposit
formed around the margin of high and steep land. That land consisted partly
of upraised Llandeilo flags and partly of rocks of still older date.[359-B]
Such evidence of the successive disturbance of strata during the Silurian
period in Great Britain is what we might look for when we have discovered
the signs of so grand a series of volcanic eruptions as the contemporaneous
greenstones and tuffs of the Welsh mountains afford.
_Silurian Strata of the United States._
The position of some of these strata, where they are bent and highly
inclined in the Appalachian chain, or where they are nearly horizontal
to the west of that chain, is shown in the section, fig. 379. p. 327.
But these formations can be studied still more advantageously north of
the same line of section, in the states of New York, Ohio, and other
regions north and south of the great Canadian lakes. Here they are
found, as in Russia, in horizontal position, and are more rich in
well-preserved fossils than in almost any spot in Europe. The American
strata may readily be divided into Upper and Lower Silurian,
corresponding in age and fossils to the European divisions bearing the
same names. The subordinate members of the New York series, founded on
lithological and geographical considerations, are most useful in the
United States, but even there are only of local importance. Some few of
them, however, tally very exactly with English divisions, as for example
the limestone, over which the Niagara is precipitated at the great
cataract, which, with its underlying shales, agrees paleontologically
with the Wenlock limestone and shale of Siluria. There is also a marked
general correspondence in the succession of fossil forms, and even
species, as we trace the organic remains downwards from the highest
to the lowest beds.
Mr. D. Sharpe, in his report on the mollusca collected by me from these
strata in North America[359-C], has concluded that the number of species
common to the Silurian rocks, on both sides of the Atlantic, is between 30
and 40 per cent.; a result which, although no doubt liable to future
modification, when a larger comparison shall have been made, proves,
nevertheless, that many of the species had a wide geographical range. It
seems that comparatively few of the gasteropods and lamellibranchiate
bivalves of North America can be identified specifically with European
fossils, while no less than two-fifths of the brachiopoda are the same. In
explanation of these facts, it is suggested, that most of the recent
brachiopoda (especially the orthidiform ones) are inhabitants of deep
water, and may have had a wider geographical range than shells living near
shore. The predominance of bivalve mollusca of this peculiar class has
caused the Silurian period to be sometimes styled the age of brachiopods.
_Whether the Silurian rocks are of deep-water origin._--The grounds relied
upon by Professor E. Forbes, for inferring that the larger part of the
Silurian Fauna is indicative of a sea more than 70 fathoms deep, are the
following: first, the small size of the greater number of conchifera;
secondly, the paucity of pectinibranchiata (or spiral univalves); thirdly,
the great number of floaters, such as _Bellerophon_, _Orthoceras_, &c.;
fourthly, the abundance of orthidiform brachiopoda; fifthly, the absence or
great rarity of fossil fish.
It is doubtless true that some living _Terebratulae_, on the coast of
Australia, inhabit shallow water; but all the known species, allied in
form to the extinct _Orthis_, inhabit the depths of the sea. It should
also be remarked that Mr. Forbes, in advocating these views, was well
aware of the existence of shores, bounding the Silurian sea in
Shropshire, and of the occurrence of littoral species of this early date
in the northern hemisphere. Such facts are not inconsistent with his
theory; for he has shown, in another work, how, on the coast of Lycia,
deep-sea strata are at present forming in the Mediterranean, in the
vicinity of high and steep land.
Had we discovered the ancient delta of some large Silurian river, we should
doubtless have known more of the shallow, and brackish water, and
fluviatile animals, and of the terrestrial flora of the period under
consideration. To assume that there were no such deltas in the Silurian
world, would be almost as gratuitous an hypothesis, as for the inhabitants
of the coral islands of the Pacific to indulge in a similar generalization
respecting the actual condition of the globe.[360-A]
_Mineral Character of Silurian Strata._
In lithological character, the Silurian strata vary greatly when we
trace them through Europe and North America. The shales called
mudstones are as little altered from some deposits, found in recent
submarine banks, as are those of many tertiary formations. We meet
with red sandstone and red marl, with gypsum and salt, of Upper
Silurian date, in the Niagara district, which might be mistaken for
trias. The whitish granular sandstone at the base of the Silurian series
in Sweden resembles the tertiary siliceous grit of Fontainebleau. The
Calcareous Grit, oolite, and pisolite of Upper Silurian age in
Gothland, are described by Sir R. Murchison as singularly like rocks
of the oolitic period near Cheltenham; and, not to cite more examples,
the Wenlock or Dudley limestone often resembles a modern coral-reef. If,
therefore, uniformity of aspect has been thought characteristic of rocks
of this age, the idea must have arisen from the similarity of feature
acquired by strata subject to metamorphic action. This influence, seeing
that the causes of change are always shifting the theatre of their
principal development, must be multiplied throughout a wider
geographical area by time, and become more general in any given system
of rocks in proportion to their antiquity. We are now acquainted with
dense groups of Eocene slates in the Alps, which were once mistaken by
experienced geologists for Transition or Silurian formations. The error
arose from attaching too great importance to mineral character as a
test of age, for the tertiary slates in question having acquired that
crystalline texture which is in reality most prevalent in the most
ancient sedimentary formations.
CAMBRIAN GROUP.
Below the Silurian strata in North Wales, and in the region of the
Cumberland lakes, there are some slaty rocks, devoid of organic remains, or
in which a few obscure traces only of fossils have been detected (for which
the names of Cambrian and Cumbrian have been proposed). Whether these will
ever be entitled by the specific distinctness of their fossils to rank as
independent groups, we have not yet sufficient data to determine.
* * * * *
TABULAR VIEW OF FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA,
_Showing the Order of Superposition or Chronological Succession of the
principal European Groups_.
I. POST-TERTIARY.
A. POST-PLIOCENE.
Periods and Groups. Examples. Observations.
1. Recent. { Peat mosses and shell-marl, } All the imbedded shells,
{ with bones of land animals, } freshwater and marine,
{ human remains, and works } of living species,
{ of art. } with occasional
{ } human remains and
{ Newer parts of modern deltas } works of art.
{ and coral reefs. }
2. Post-Pliocene. { Clay, marl, and volcanic tuff } All the shells of living
{ of Ischia, p. 113. } species. No human
{ } remains or works
{ Loess of the Rhine, p. 117. } of art. Bones of
{ } quadrupeds, partly
{ Newer part of boulder } of extinct species.
{ formation, with erratics, }
{ p. 124. }
II. TERTIARY.
B. PLIOCENE.
3. Newer Pliocene { Boulder formation or drift of { Three-fourths of the
or Pleistocene. { northern Europe and North { fossil shells of
{ America, chaps. 11. & 12. { existing species.
{ {
{ Cavern deposits and osseous { A majority of the
{ breccias, p. 153. { mammalia extinct;
{ { but the genera
{ Fluvio-marine crag of Norwich, { corresponding with
{ p. 148. { those now surviving in
{ { the same great
{ Limestone of Girgenti, { geographical and
{ in Sicily, p. 152. { zoological province,
{ p. 157.
{
{ During part of this
{ period icebergs
{ frequent in the seas
{ of the northern
{ hemisphere, and
{ glaciers on hills
{ of moderate height.
4. Older Pliocene. { Red and Coralline crag of { A third or more of the
{ Suffolk, p. 162. { species of mollusca
{ { extinct.
{ Subapennine beds, p. 166. {
{ Nearly, if not all, the
{ mammalia extinct.
C. MIOCENE.
5. Miocene. { Faluns of Touraine, p. 168. { About two-thirds of the
{ { species of shells
{ Part of Bordeaux beds, p. 171. { extinct.
{ {
{ Part of Molasse of { The recent species of
{ Switzerland, p. 171. { shells often not
{ found in the
{ adjoining seas, but
{ in warmer latitudes.
{
{ All the mammalia
{ extinct.
D. EOCENE.
6. Upper Eocene. { Upper marine of Paris basin, } Fossil shells of the
{ Fontainebleau sandstone, } Eocene period, with
{ p. 175. } very few exceptions,
{ } extinct. Those which
{ Upper freshwater and millstone } are identified with
{ of same. } living species rarely
{ Kleyn Spauwen beds, p. 176. } belong to neighbouring
{ } regions.
{ Hermsdorf tile-clay, near }
{ Berlin. } All the mammalia of
{ } extinct species, and
{ Mayence tertiary strata, } the greater part of
{ p. 177. } them of extinct
{ } genera.
{ Freshwater beds of Limagne }
{ d'Auvergne, p. 181. } Plants of Upper Eocene,
} indicating a south
7. Middle Eocene. { Paris gypsum with } European or
{ Paleotherium, &c., p. 191. } Mediterranean climate;
{ } those of Lower Eocene,
{ Freshwater and fluvio-marine } a tropical climate.
{ beds of Headon Hill, Isle }
{ of Wight, p. 197. }
{ }
{ Barton beds, Hants, p. 198. }
{ }
{ Calcaire Grossier, Paris, }
{ p. 193. }
{ }
{ Bagshot and Bracklesham beds, }
{ Surrey and Sussex, p. 198. }
}
8. Lower Eocene. { London clay proper of Highgate }
{ Hill and Sheppey,--Bognor }
{ beds, Sussex, p. 200. }
{ }
{ Sables inferieurs, and lits }
{ coquilliers of Paris basin, }
{ p. 196. }
{ }
{ Mottled and plastic clays and }
{ sands of the Hampshire and }
{ London basins, p. 203. }
{ }
{ Sables inferieurs and argiles }
{ plastiques of Paris basin, }
{ p. 196. }
{ }
{ Nummulitic formation of the }
{ Alps, p. 205. }
III. SECONDARY.
E. CRETACEOUS.
Sec. UPPER CRETACEOUS.
9. Maestricht { Yellowish white limestone of { Ammonite, Baculite, and
beds. { Maestricht, p. 209. { Belemnite, associated
{ { with Cypraea, Oliva,
{ Coralline limestone of Faxoe, { Mitra, Trochus, &c.
{ Denmark, p. 210. { Large marine saurians.
10. Upper White { White chalk with flints of } Marine limestone
Chalk. { North and South } formed in part of
{ Downs,--Surrey and Sussex, } decomposed corals.
{ p. 211. }
11. Lower White { Chalk without flints, and }
Chalk. { chalk marl, ibid. }
12. Upper { Loose sand, with bright green }
Greensand. { particles, ibid. }
{ }
{ Firestone of Merstham, Kent, }
{ p. 218. }
{ }
{ Marly stone, with layers of }
{ chert, south of Isle of }
{ Wight. }
13. Gault. { Dark blue marl at base of { Numerous extinct genera
{ chalk escarpment,--Kent { of conchiferous
{ and Sussex, p. 218. { cephalopoda, Hamite,
{ Scaphite, Ammonite, &c.
Sec.Sec. LOWER CRETACEOUS.
14. Lower { Sand with green matter,--Weald } Species of shells, &c.,
Greensand. { of Kent and Sussex, } nearly all distinct
{ p. 219. } from those of Upper
{ } Cretaceous; most of
{ White, yellowish, and } the genera the same.
{ ferruginous sand, with }
{ concretions of limestone and }
{ chert,--Atherfield, Isle }
{ of Wight. }
{ }
{ Limestone called Kentish Rag }
F. WEALDEN.
15. Weald Clay. { Clay with occasional bands of { Of freshwater origin.
{ limestone,--Weald of Kent, { Shells of
{ Surrey, and Sussex, p. 227. { pulmoniferous
{ mollusca, and of
{ Cypris. Land reptiles.
16. Hastings Sand. { Sand with calciferous grit and { Freshwater with
{ clay,--Hastings, Sussex, { intercalated bed of
{ Cuckfield, Kent, p. 229. { brackish and salt
{ water origin. Shells
{ of fluviatile and
{ lacustrine genera.
{ Reptiles of the genera
{ Pterodactyle,
{ Iguanodon,
{ Megalosaurus,
{ Plesiosaurus, Trionyx,
{ and Emys.
17. Purbeck Beds. Limestones, calcareous slates { Chiefly freshwater, and
and marls, p. 231. { divisible into three
{ groups, each
{ containing distinct
{ species of freshwater
{ mollusca and of
{ entomostraca.
{ Alternations of
{ deposits formed in
{ fresh, brackish, and
{ marine water, and of
{ ancient soils formed
{ on land and retaining
{ roots of trees.
{ Plants chiefly cycads
{ and conifers, p. 231.
G. OOLITE.
18. Upper Oolite. { _a._ Portland building stone, } Ammonites and Belemnites
{ p. 259. } numerous.
{ }
{ _b._ Portland sand. } Large saurians, as
{ } Pterodactyles,
{ _c._ Kimmeridge clay, } Plesiosaurs,
{ Dorsetshire, p. 260. } Ichthyosaurs.
}
19. Middle Oolite. { _a._ Coral Rag, p. 260. } No cetaceans yet known,
{ Calcareous freestones, } but three species of
{ oolitic, often full of } terrestrial mammalia,
{ corals. Oxfordshire. } p. 267, 268.
{ } Preponderance of
{ _b._ Oxford clay--Dark blue } ganoid fish. The
{ clay,--Oxfordshire and } plants chiefly cycads,
{ midland counties, p. 262. } conifers, and ferns,
} with a few palms.
20. Lower Oolite. { _a._ Cornbrash and forest }
{ marble, Wiltshire, p. 263. }
{ }
{ _b._ Great oolite and }
{ Stonesfield slate,--Bath, }
{ Bradford, Stonesfield near }
{ Woodstock, Oxfordshire, }
{ p. 266. }
{ }
{ _c._ Fuller's earth,--Clay }
{ containing fuller's earth }
{ near Bath, p. 272. }
{ }
{ _d._ Inferior oolite, }
{ calcareous freestone, and }
{ yellow sands,--Cotteswold }
{ Hills, Dundry Hill, near }
{ Bristol, p. 272. }
H. LIAS.
21. Lias. { Argillaceous limestone, marl { Mollusca, reptiles,
{ and clay,--Lyme Regis, { and fish of genera
{ Dorsetshire, p. 273. { analogous to the
{ oolitic.
I. TRIAS.
22. Upper Trias. { Keuper of Germany, or } Batrachian reptiles,
{ variegated marls--Red, grey, } _e.g._ Labyrinthodon,
{ green, blue, and white marls } Rhyncosaurus, &c.
{ and sandstones with } Cephalopoda:
{ gypsum--Wuertemberg, bone-bed } Ceratites. No
{ of Axmouth, Dorset, p. 289. } Belemnites. Plants:
} Ferns, Cycads,
} Conifers.
23. Middle Trias { Compact greyish limestone } With Equisetites
or { with beds of dolomite and } and Calamite.
Muschelkalk. { gypsum,--North of Germany, }
{ p. 287. Wanting in }
{ England. }
24. Lower Trias. { Variegated or Bunter sandstone } Plants different for
{ of Germans--Red and white } the most part from
{ spotted sandstone with } those of the Upper
{ gypsum and rock-salt, P. 288 } Trias.
{ }
{ Part of New Red sandstone of }
{ of Cheshire with rock-salt, }
{ p. 294. }
IV. PRIMARY.
K. PERMIAN.
25. Upper Permian. { Yellow magnesian limestone, } Organic remains, both
{ Yorkshire and Durham, } animal and vegetable,
{ P. 301. } more allied to primary
{ } than to secondary
{ Zechstein of Thuringia, Upper } periods.
{ part of Permian beds, }
{ Russia. }
26. Lower Permian. { _a._ Marl slate of Durham and } Thecodont saurians.
{ Thuringia. } Heterocercal fish of
{ } genus Palaeoniscus, &c.
{ _b._ Lower New Red sandstone }
{ of north of England and }
{ Rothliegendes of Germany. }
{ }
{ _a._ and _b._ Lower part of }
{ Permian beds, Russia, }
{ p. 301. }
L. CARBONIFEROUS.
27. Coal measures. { _a._ Strata of sandstone and } Great thickness of
{ shale, with beds of } strata of
{ coal,--S. Wales and } fluvio-marine origin,
{ Northumberland, p. 309. } with beds of coal of
{ } vegetable origin,
{ _b._ Millstone grit,--S. } based on soils
{ Wales, Bristol coal-field, } retaining the roots
{ Yorkshire, p. 308. } of trees.
}
} Oldest of known reptiles
} or Archegosaurus.
} Sauroid fish.
28. Mountain { Carboniferous or mountain { Brachiopoda of genus
limestone. { limestone, with marine { Productus.
{ shells and corals. {
{ { Cephalopoda of genera
{ Mendip Hills, and many parts { Cyrtoceras, Goniatite,
{ of Ireland, p. 340. { Orthoceras.
{
{ Crustaceans of the
{ genus Phillipsia.
{
{ Crinoideans abundant.
M. DEVONIAN.
29. Upper { _a._ Yellow sandstone of Dura } Tribe of fish with hard
Devonian. { Den, Fife. } coverings like
{ } chelonians,
{ _b._ Red sandstone and marl } Pterichthys,
{ with cornstone of } Pamphractus, &c.;
{ Herefordshire and } also of genera
{ Forfarshire. } Cephalaspis,
{ } Holoptichius, &c.
{ Paving and roofing-stone, }
{ Forfarshire. } No reptiles yet known.
{ }
{ Upper part of Devonian beds }
{ of South Devon. }
30. Lower { Grey sandstone with } Fish, partly of same
Devonian. { Ichthyolites,--Caithness, } genera, but of
{ Cromarty, and Orkney, Lower } distinct species from
{ part of Devonian beds of } those in Upper
{ South Devon, and green } Devonian; also
{ chloritic slates of } Osteolepis,
{ Cornwall, limestone of } Coccosteus,
{ Gerolstein, Eifel. } Glyptolepis,
} Dipterus, &c.
N. SILURIAN.
31. Upper { _a._ Tilestone of Brecon and { Oldest of fossil fish
Silurian. { Caermarthen. { yet discovered.
{ {
{ _b._ Limestone and shale, { Trilobites and
{ Ludlow, Shropshire. { Graptolites abundant.
{ {
{ _c._ Wenlock or Dudley { Brachiopoda very
{ limestone. { numerous.
{
{ Cephalopoda:
{ Bellerophon,
{ Orthoceras.
{ Same genera of
32. Lower { _a._ Caradoc sandstone, Caer { invertebrate animals
Silurian. { Caradoc, Shropshire. { as in Upper Silurian,
{ { but species chiefly
{ _b._ Llandeilo flags, { distinct. Trinucleus
{ calcareous flags and { caractaci, Cystideae,
{ schists,--Builth, { p. 358.
{ Radnorshire, Llandeilo, {
{ Caermarthenshire. { No land plants yet
{ known.
{
{ Footprints of tortoise,
{ see note, p. 360.
FOOTNOTES:
[352-A] Murchison, Silurian System, p. 198, 199.
[354-A] Silurian System, pl. 7. bis. fig. 1. b.
[358-A] Quart. Geol. Journ., vol. ii. p. 11.; and Memoirs of Geol. Survey,
vol. ii. p. 518.
[359-A] Quart. Geol. Journ., vol. iv. p. 300.
[359-B] Ibid., 299.
[359-C] Ibid., 145.
[360-A] Since this was written, Mr. Logan has discovered chelonian
footprints in the lowest fossiliferous beds of the Silurian series, near
Montreal, in Canada. Professor Owen inclines to refer them to the genus
_Emys_.--_Quart. Journ. G. S._, vol. vii. p. lxxvi.