John Allen Howe

“ It has been employed in more than one sense. In the type area the rocks have been divided into two sub-stages, a lower, Valanginian (from Valengin, E. Desor, 1854) and an upper, Hauterivian (from Hauterive, E. Renevier, 1874) ; there is also another local sub-stage, the infra-Valanginian or Berriasian (from Berrias, H. Coquand, 1876) . These three sub-stages constitute the Neocomian in its restricted sense. A. von Koenen and other German geologists extend the use of the term to include the whole of the Lower Cretaceous up to the top of the Gault or Albian. ”

“ This becomes the more obvious when it is pointed out that the Berriasian type is limited to Dauphine; the Valanginian has not a much wider range; and the Hauterivian does not extend north of the Paris basin. ”