Plants of the Upper Fresh-water Molasse.
Fossil Fruit and Flowers as well as Leaves.
Insects of the Upper Molasse.
Middle or Marine Molasse of Switzerland.
Upper Miocene Beds of the Bolderberg, in Belgium.
Vienna Basin.
Upper Miocene of Italy and Greece.
Upper Miocene of India; Siwalik Hills.
Older Pliocene and Miocene of the United States.
UPPER MIOCENE STRATA OF FRANCE.-- FALUNS OF TOURAINE.
The strata which we meet with next in the descending order are those called by
many geologists "Middle Tertiary," for which in 1833 I proposed the name of
Miocene, selecting the "faluns" of the valley of the Loire, in France, as my
example or type. I shall now call these falunian deposits Upper Miocene, to
distinguish them from others to which the name of Lower Miocene will be given.
No British strata have a distinct claim to be regarded as Upper Miocene, and as
the Lower Miocene are also but feebly represented in the British Isles, we must
refer to foreign examples in illustration of this important period in the
earth's history. The term "faluns" is given provincially by French
agriculturists to shelly sand and marl spread over the land in Touraine, just as
similar shelly deposits were formerly much used in Suffolk to fertilise the
soil, before the coprolitic or phosphatic nodules came into use.
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