The Néocomian beds in France are found in Champagne, in the departments of the Aube, the Yonne, the Haute-Alps, &c. They are largely developed in Switzerland at Neufchatel, and in Germany. 1. The Lower Néocomian consists of marls and greyish clay, alternating with thin beds of grey limestone. It is very thick, and occurs at Neufchatel and in the Drôme. The fossils are _Spatangus retusus_, _Crioceras_ (Fig. 125), _Ammonites Asterianus_, &c. 2. _Orgonian_ (the limestone of Orgon). This group exists, also, at Aix-les-Bains in Savoy, at Grenoble, and generally in the thick, white, calcareous beds which form the precipices of the Drôme. The fossils _Chama ammonia_, _Pigaulus_, &c. 3. The _Aptien_ (or Greensand) consists generally of marls and clay. In France it is found in the department of Vaucluse, at Apt (whence the name Aptien), in the department of the Yonne, and in the Haute-Marne. Fossils, _Ancyloceras Matheronianus_, _Ostrea aquila_, and _Plicatula placunea_. These beds consist here of greyish clay, which is used for making tiles; there of bluish argillaceous limestone, in black or brownish flags. In the Isle of Wight it becomes a fine sandstone, greyish and slightly argillaceous, which at Havre, and in some parts of the country of Bray, become well-developed ferruginous sandstones. [Illustration: Fig. 143.--Cypris spinigera.] [Illustration: Fig. 144.--Cypris Valdensis.] We have noted that the Lower Néocomian formation, although a marine deposit, is in some respects the equivalent of the _Weald Clay_, a fresh-water formation of considerable importance on account of its fossils. We have seen that it was either formed at the mouth of a great river, or the river was sufficiently powerful for the fresh-water current to be carried out to sea, carrying with it some animals, forming a fluviatile, or lacustrine fauna, on a small scale. These were small Crustaceans of the genus _Cypris_, with some molluscous Gasteropoda of the genera _Melania_, _Paludina_, and acephalous Mollusca of the five genera _Cyrena_, _Unio_, _Mytilus_, _Cyclas_, and _Ostrea_. Of these, _Cypris spinigera_ (Fig. 143) and _Cypris Valdensis_ (Fig. 144) may be considered as among the most characteristic fossils of this local fauna.