to rest directly upon the Middle Neocomian beds. This fact, taken in conjunction with that of the Neocomian being so frequently overlapped by the beds of the Upper Cretaceous, appears to point to the conclusion that in Northern Germany, as in this country, an unconformity exists between the two series.
In the low land in the neighbourhood of Hildesheim the clays of the Middle Neocomian again occur, but are only exposed in a few clay-pits. In these I collected : —
Ancyloceras (Crioceras) Emmerici, Lev.
Belemnites jaculum, Phil.
Exogyra sinuata, Sow.
Pecten cinctus, Sow. &c. &c.
In the chain of the Hils the deposits of Neocomian age are very well developed. The locality of Elligser Brinke, near Delligsen, is especially celebrated — the beds here, which were at first referred to the Jurassic System (Oxfordian and Kimmeridge), having yielded a very large suite of fossils, particularly rich in Brachiopoda and Sponges.
I found the beds at this place to consist of blue clays, with a few septaria of a whitish colour, and also some scattered irregular nodules of brown ironstone. At a considerable depth in this clay occurs a bed (not now exposed) of argillaceous limestone, crowded with oysters, brachiopods, and other shells *. The following fossils have been obtained from Elligser Brinke, the beds at which place appear to represent the lowest portion of the Middle Neocomian, or the top of the Lower Neocomian.
Belemnites lateralis, Phil. (B. subquadratus, Rom.).
— jaculum, Phil. (B. pistillum, Rom.).
Nautilus radiatus, Sow.
Ammonites noricus, Schloth.
— radiatus, Brug. (A. asper, Merian).
— clypeiformis, D' Orb.
Pleurotomaria suprajurensis, Rom.
— gigantea, Sow. (P. striata, Sow.).
Turbo clathratus, Rom. (T. subclathratus, D' Orb.).
— sulcatus, Koch.
— hilseana, Koch.
Trochus scalaris, Rom.
Ostrea macroptera, Sow.
Exogyra sinuata, Sow. (O. aquila, Brong.).
— Boussingaulti, D' Orb. (E. subplicata, Rom.).
Exogyra tuberculifera, D. & K. (E. spiralis, and reniformis, Goldf.).
— undata, Sow.
— haliotoidea.
Plicatula ornata, Goldf.
— imbricata, Koch & Dunker.
Pecten cinctus, Sow. (very rare).
— striato-punctatus, Rom.
Avicula Cornueliana, D'Orb. (A. macroptera, Rom.), very abundant.
Perna Mulleti, Desh. (very rare).
Lima plana, Rom.
— subrigida, Rom.
— longa, Rom. (L. elongata, Rom.).
— stricta, Rom.
Modiola rugosa, Rom.
— pulcherrima, Rom.
Arca exsculpta, Koch.
Nucula subtrigona, Rom (? N. subtriangula, K. & D.).
Venus parva, Sow. (V. subinflexa, Rom.).
- In this bed was found a single specimen of Perna Mulleti, Desh., a shell
which has also occurred in considerable abundance in sandstones of the same age (Middle Neocomian) in the Teutoburger Wald and in Holland. M. Cornuel records it (Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr. 2me sur t. viii.) from the Upper and Lower Neocomian of the Dept. of the Haute-Marne ; in this country it has only occurred in the Upper Neocomian Atherfield Clay and the cement-beds of Speeton.
