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279
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344
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
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HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. and
On the Grotocy and Fossits of the Ne1GHBOoURHOOD of
NAgeur, Centrat Inpia. By the Rev. Messrs. 8S. Histor
and R. Hunter.
[Communicated by J. C. Moore, Esq., F.G.S.1
[Read June 21, 1854*.]
(PLATE X.)
[Note.—A full Abstract of this Communication appeared in the Society’s
Journal, No. 40, p. 470 ef seg., in consequence of unavoidable delay in the pub-
lication of the Memoir itself. ]
PART IL.+
(GEOLOGY OF THE DisTRICT.)
ConTENTS.
Physical Geography of the District.
History of Geological Observations in freshwater deposit.
the District. Extent of the freshwater de-
General Geology of the District. posit.
Extent of the trap-rocks. Minerals of the Trap.
granitic and schistose rocks. Age of the Trap, and the mode
sandstone and shales. of its eruption.
Fossils, and age of the enclosed
laterite, &c.
Description of the strata.
I. Superficial formations.
1. Black soil or Regur.
2. Red soil.
II. Brown clay.
III. Laterite.
IV. V. VI. Upper and Lower Trap,
VII. Sandstone formation, and its
four divisions, with their fossils.
Thickness of the strata.
Character of the formation,
and its age.
VIII. Plutonic and metamorphic
rocks.
Metals of these rocks.
and the enclosed sedimentary
Age of the crystalline rocks.
formation.
Conclusion.
Physical Geography of the District.—The country to which the
following paper refers is the western part of the recently acquired
kingdom of Nagpurt{, lying, with the southern corner of the Sagar
* For the other Papers read at this Evening Meeting, see Quart. Journ. Geol.
Soc. vol. x. p. 454 &c.
+ Part II., containing the Paleontological Portions of this Communication,
with Illustrations, will appear in a subsequent No. of the Journal.
¢ With regard to the spelling and pronunciation of Hindu names of places,
the authors have furnished the following remarks in one of their late letters to
the Assistant-Secretary :—
“Orthography in India is a very unsettled branch of learning. Those who first
stereotyped in English characters the Hindu names of places were most unsuited
for the work, and hence most unscientific is the system of spelling practised by
the generality of our countrymen. We follow the Jonesian system, as it is
adopted by such societies as the Royal Asiatic. By that every Hindu letter has
an English representative, though that representative has more a continental than
an English sound attached to it. The vowels are a, 4,—i, 7,—u, ti,—e, ei,—0, ou.
They are in pairs, short and long; @ unaccented having the sound of u in but,
a accented the sound of a in have, u the sound of itself in full, its long being just
the same sound more dwelt on, z the sound of English é@ made long or short as it
has accent or no accent. There is only one consonant that may occasion diffi-
culty, that is a d written in italics. When so written or printed it is intended to
have a sound somewhat like vr. Thus we write Weiragad, whereas it is com-
monly written Wyraghur. The gh for g is just a gross mistake, which destroys
the etymology of the language to a person who does not know the original Hindu
name. Silewada, as written by us, is usually represented Sillewarra.”
Draxz Joewx, Gror, Soc Vin XUF1X.
SG
\
‘Weiraigad
at
é a ke
|) Bot
GEOLOGICAL MAP.
of the =, 2
i 5
WESTERN PART OF THE *
NAGPUR TERRITORY,
Soute 20 British Miles te oxi Freeh
re
Fasolt, Anyydaleid, & (Locally
sesccrated with Freshawater Depestt.iviny a2]
berwees the upper anid lowe traps)
Ressilfireus Kserctimies accompanied by
Goal Seams)
Granitio & ether Gystalline Recks
Sanistone & Shales (Locally
TABLE or SIGNS.
346 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
and Narbadda Territories, between 78° 15! and 80° 35! east longi-
tude, and 19° 35! and 22° 40! north latitude. It is of a triangular
shape, each side extending about 180 miles. Its northern side is
formed by the table-land stretching from the Mahadewa Hills on
the north-west to the northern extremity of the Lanji Hills on the
north-east : the south-eastern side is constituted partly by the chain
last mentioned, and partly by a line drawn from its southern base
. to the junction of the Wem Ganga and Wardha, which latter river
marks out nearly the whole of the south-western side. (See Map,
Pl. X.) The limits as thus defined enclose an area corresponding
with that surveyed by Lieuts. Norris and Weston in 1826, and
amounting by their calculation to 24,000 square miles.
The city of Nagpur is situated very near the centre of this area.
In the northern division, where the hills are both most numerous
and most elevated, the direction of the ranges is east and west. In
the southern, which contains a greater extent of level country, the
course they take is generally north and south.
Chouragad, the highest summit of the Mahadewa hills, and the
loftiest point in our district, rises to an altitude of 4200 feet above
the sea: the usual height of the range, which entering the Nagpur
territory from Gawilgad passes by Dewagad towards Siwani, is not
above 2000 feet, though in the east of the same chain, where it goes
under the name of the Lanji Hills, some of the peaks attain an ele-
vation of 2300 and 2400 feet. At Nagpur the country has fallen
to a level of 1000 feet. On the west, however, it immediately rises
by 200 or 300 feet in a succession of eminences, which run parallel
to the Dewagad range, until they reach the basin of the Wardha,
when they suddenly sink in precipitous descents as at Talegaum
Ghat. Towards the east of the capital, the plain extends almost
without interruption to the banks of the Wein Ganga, where the
general level is about 900 feet above the sea. Still further east, on
crossing the river, we find the country preserving its former flatness,
except that occasionally it is diversified by ranges of hills running
north and south, of which that encircling the Lake of Nawagaum is
the most considerable. Im the southern division of the territory
there are few hills, if any, that rise above 2000 feet; while the
champaign tracts, which abound on both sides of the Wein Ganga
and Wardha, fall, ere these rivers have effected the junction of their
united streams with the Godavari, to 800 feet above the sea-level.
It will thus be seen that our district presents a watershed from
north to south. The most important rivers which flow through it
are the Kanhan from the Mahadewa Hills, which at Kampti receives
the Pech from the same upland tract, and the Kolaér,—the Wardha,
which is joined by the Wanna from the hills west of Nagpur, and by
the Pain Ganga from the Nizam’s country,—and the Wein Ganga,
the largest of all, which on its left bank is increased by the united
streams of the Wag, the Son, and the Dewa, and by the Chulband,
and on the right by the Kanhan and Wardha, after its confluence
with the latter of which it takes the name of the Pranhita, and ere
long discharges its waters into the Godavari.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. ~ 347
History of the Geological Observations of the District.—The
geological structure of the territory, whose extent and natural fea-
tures have been thus briefly described, has for some time engaged
the attention of scientific men in India. Dr. Voysey and Captain,
now Colonel, Jenkins were the first who examined it. From the
result of their investigations, as published in the Bengal Asiatic
Society’s Transactions, Part I. for 1829, it would seem that they
were unsuccessful in their search for fossils. The lamented Voysey,
indeed, who was the first in India to find shells ina stratum enclosed
in trap, thought he had discovered, on the journey hence to Calcutta,
which terminated his distinguished career, bivalves in a bed of lime-
stone near Rayepur within the Nagpur State, though on the east of
our district* ; but I have since ascertained} that the appearances,
which he regarded as organic, are the consequence of the rock
having been brecciated. The next observer within our field of
investigation was Dr. Malcolmson, who in 1833 worthily following
up Voysey’s discoveries within the Nizam’s dominions in 1819 and
1823, pointed out new localities for the formation in the same part
of the country, and traced it into this kingdom to Chikni and Hin-
ghanghat. At the former of these places, which is sixty miles south
of the city of Nagpur, he met with Unio Deccanensis, Physa Prin-
sepii, Paludina Deccanensis, and Melania quadrilineata: at the
latter, which is sixteen miles nearer the capital, he found an abun-
dance of silicified wood. But though he lived in this neighbourhood
for some years, he does not appear to have been aware of the exist-
ence of similar organic remains here; and, while with Voysey and
Jenkins he enlarged on the mineralogy of Sitabaldi Hill, like them
he failed to advert to the two rocks which are its most interesting
features,—his own trap-imbedded stratum with Physas and Melanias
towards the top, and an unfossiliferous member of the sandstone
formation resting on gneiss at the bottom. In 1842 Lieut. Munro,
of H.M.’s 39th Regt., brought to light in the sandstone quarries
near Kampti, nine miles N.E. of Nagpur, the impressions of ferns,
which were forwarded to Malcolmson as having previously discovered
the first vegetable remains in the sandstone of the Hyderabad country,
by whom they were figured and described as resembling Glossopteris
Daneoides of Roylet. As this species of fern is now understood to
be a Teniopteris, it seems likely, that the comparison of the Kémpti
specimens with it was incorrect, and that they belonged to a Glosso-
pteris, whose species, owing to the fragmentary state of the fronds,
cannot be determined.
In 1845 I procured a few fossils of the same kind from the
Kampti sandstone, and two years subsequently my esteemed col-
league the Rev. R. Hunter and myself fell in with them in the
* Beng. As. Soc. Journ. vol. xiii. p, 856.
+ The first person singular here refers to Mr. Hislop, by whom the memoir is
for the most part written, with the exception of the description of the Plants and
Insects of the Tertiary deposits, which is from the pen of his fellow-labourer Mr.
Hunter. For a previous notice of the “Geology of the Nagpur State,”’ by the
Rev. S. Hislop, see Journ. Bombay Asiat. Soc. No. 18, July 1853, p. 58, &c.—En.
¢ Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc. Journ. vol. i. p. 249.
348 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
contemporaneous strata of Chanda, eighty miles south of Nagpur.
None of these specimens, however, were preserved, nor was anything
further done by us or by others to understand the palzeontology of
this part of India, until June 1851, when, walking with my fellow-
labourer in the neighbourhood of our residence, two or three Physas
in a deposit enclosed in a trap hill about a mile west of Sitabaldi,
and two miles in the same direction from Nagpur, forced themselves
on my notice. They were at once referred to the fossils which
Voysey and Malcolmson had discovered in a similar situation, and
the deposit in which they occur was identified with the freshwater
formation that they had traced in several parts of the Nizam’s terri-
tory, and at Chikni and Hinghanghat in this state. In a few days
after, at the same spot, I found the first bone, and Mr. Hunter the
first tooth ; and, after a week or two, on Takli Plain, about 23 miles
N.W. of Nagpur, I met with the first Fruit and Entomostracan.
About the same time, from observing the traces of ancient vege-
tation on the soft clayey sandstone, used in the absence of chalk for
whitening the writing-boards in our Mission schools, I was led to
make inquiries about the locality from which it was brought, which
ended in the discovery of Glossopteris and Phyllotheca and some
seeds or seed-vessels at Bokhara, six miles north of Nagpur. Ere
long we were joined by our friend Capt. Wapshare, Judge Advocate
of the Nagpur Subsidiary Force, who added many valuable vegetable
remains to our collection; and it is to his able and generous efforts
that we owe, among other rare acquisitions, the first palm and the
first mulberry-like fruits. From the red shale of Korhadi, seven
miles north of Nagpur, I procured tracks of Annelids, and more
recently, in combination with them, the foot-marks of some Reptile :
and towards the end of the year, in company with Lieut. Sankey of
the Madras Engineers, I visited Silewada, twelve miles north of
Nagpur, where the sandstone yielded a profusion of rich and most
beautiful specimens of Glossopteris, and whence have since been
obtained a variety of Exogenous stems, several species of Phyllotheca,
and an interesting specimen, contributed by Mr. Hunter, of an allied
genus, which by Lindley and Hutton is reckoned an Equisetum,
and by Bunbury probably an Asterophyllites*. A Mission tour,
undertaken about the same time, conducted my colleague and
myself past the freshwater formation at Pahadsingha, forty miles
W.N.W. of Nagpur, in which was detected an abundance of fish-
scales, dispersed through the stone. On our return, Mr. Hunter,
among the seeds and fruits of Takli, discovered the first specimen
and the greater part of our fossil Coleoptera; while we received an
accession to our collection of shells from Dr. J. Miller, then of the
10th Regt. M.N.1., who, while on an excursion with Dr. Fitz-
gerald, had found the freshwater formation at Butdara near Mach-
haghoda, eighty miles north of Nagpur, and also from Mr. Sankey,
who had fallen in with it at Pilkapahad, twenty-five miles to the
north-west. The latter-named officer, after discovering in the Kampti
quarries the first Vertebraria, a fine species of Phyllotheca, a long
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 189.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 349
endogenous leaf, and an abundant kind of seed, all of which he libe-
rally handed over to us, proceeded along with Dr. Jerdon, the Indian
ornithologist, in the direction of Butaraé and the Mahadewa Hills*,
whence they returned with several new fossils belonging to our
Eastern Coal-formation, and excellent specimens of the shells pre-
viously collected by Dr. Miller, agreeing in general with those of
this neighbourhood. In a portion of the Butara rock which they
kindly gave me, I was struck with the appearance of a diminutive
ereature, which proved to be a second genus of the Entomostraca.
Ere the first anniversary of the discovery of our earliest Physa had
come round, several other localities had been ascertained for both the
freshwater and sandstone fossils, and observations had been made on
the remains of quadrupeds and shells imbedded in comparatively
recent deposits. Since that, on our annual Mission tours we have
become acquainted with a productive site for sandstone organisms at
Mangali, sixty miles south of Nagpur, which has afforded a few
unusual vegetable remains, a species of Hstheria, scales and jaws
of Fish, and the entire head of a Saurian; we have passed through
districts abounding in laterite and iron-ore, and have increased our
knowledge of the geological structure of the country generally.
General Geology of the District.—From the rapid survey which we
have taken in the preceding historical introduction of the fossils that
have heen brought to light within our area, it is obvious that its palee-
ontology, contrary to the common idea of Indian formations, is both
varied and important ; but, even in a lithological point of view, there
are few tracts of equal extent that are worthy of more attention, and of
all the portions of that interesting area, there is none for interest that
can be compared with the vicinity of Nagpur, —its centre at once poli-
tical, historical, and geological. We have only to take a few steps
from our house and we reach the summit of Sitabaldi Hill,—the
scene of as heroic a conflict as ever our countrymen gained in the
East. The spot on which we stand consists of nodular trap (fig. 1).
At the distance of a few yards from our feet, just under the brow of the
hill, is a narrow stripe of green or yellow calcareous indurated clay,
which, on close inspection, is found to contain a number of decaying
casts of freshwater shells. Under this we perceive a bluish-green
friable rock, which hardens first into a tough amygdaloid, and then,
a little above the level of the plain, down to which it is scarped by
the quarrymen, into a compact greenstone. Cropping out from
under the foot of the hill may be seen a bed of soft variegated sand-
stone, and then, according as we look east or west, the prevailing
rock covering the plain beyond is either gneiss or trap.
But let us extend the prospect to the horizon. As we stand with
our faces to the north, the first glance that we cast on the distant
hills shows that there is a marked difference among them. Behind
us, on our left, and in front we follow a long sweep of flattened
summits, with here and there a valley to break the uniformity ; but
no sooner do we look towards the right than we descry a series of
round-topped hills rismmg up at intervals in massive strength. These
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 55.
350 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
flattened summits are the tops of trap-hills, which stretch, in the
orm we see, from our present position to the coast of the Arabian
: Sea; and these massive eminences are
i granitic hills which rise up in the manner
a that meets our eye, at various distances
\s from each other, from the place where we
Loe stand to the Bay of Bengal. The inter-
S mediate hills and plains, which in front
Ke fill up the foreground, are formed of the
dolomite and shale of Korhadi, and the
sandstone of the basins of the Kanhan
and Kolar.
From our elevated station we are thus
enabled to command a prospect of twenty
miles in every direction, and the forma-
tions that we can trace within that range
make up an exact miniature of the geo-
logy of our whole area. Nay, were we
to go down the hill and walk around its
base, in the descent and circuit, which
might all be accomplished in twenty
minutes, we should meet with almost
every rock that is to be found between
Bombay and Kattak.
The geology of our area must at one
time have been extremely simple. Its
principal feature was then sandstone,
associated with shale and limestone. But
now other two formations are discovered
on the arena, and these seem on the sur-
face as if they had been two huge ice-
bergs, which approached each other in
frightful collision, crushing the sandstone
between them, and allowing the frag-
ments to slide out at either end, and
scattermg them here and there over their
own bulk. Or, to speak in language
more precise, the sandstone formation,
which once occupied the whole space that
we have chosen for description, is now
covered up by trap on the west, and
broken up by granite on the east, leaving
only a small diagonal stripe running
through the centre, which, after bemg
interrupted at the north-west and south-
east, increases in these directions to a
broad expanse, while a few detached por-
tions, formerly continuous with it, appear
in the body of the trap and granite. It
is the juxtaposition of trap, sandstone,
North
d @
wy WYER SSS}
ZING S=
5, Freshwater tertiary.
posit, then compact, but nodular at the sides.
es the amygdaloid throughout.
f. Pegmatite.
ey:
sg Se + oon
o?
===
——
SS
ed
SS
a
c
HF
tm
eZ
Zz
probably underli
e. Gneiss, into which much of the Sandstone has been transformed.
\
|
il
Fig. 1.—Section through Sitabaldi Hill.
ce. Underlying trap ; vesicular for some feet under the freshwater de
d. Highest member of the Sandstone series, which most
a. Overlying nodular trap.
=
r=
°
PD
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 451
and granite in this neighbourhood which invests the geology of
Nagpur with special importance, and which, when investigated by
competent observers, may shed a flood of light some future day upon
Indian geology in general.
Trap Rocks of the District. —The greater part of the trap within
our area lies in the west in the shape of a parallelogram, one of whose
corners has been encroached on by a projecting portion of Berar and
the Betul district of the Sdgar and Narbadda territories. Its greatest
length is 120 miles, and its breadth is from fifty to sixty. Its south-
western side, on which the irregularity of figure is found, and by
which it joins on to the great sheet of basalt in the Dakhan, is formed
by the Wardha. Its south-eastern side, commencing from Suit on
that river, crosses the road from Nagpur to Chanda on the south of
Chikni, and, passing by the north of the Mangali fossiliferous quarry,
extends to Sakra and Bhiwakund, after which it coincides very nearly
with the political division between the Svibas (provinces) of Nagpur
and Chanda, which stretches by Linga, Jamgaum, and A‘lasur Hills
to the north-west of Bhisi. Here begins its north-east side, which
skirts the small patches of sandstone on the west of Umret and Kuhi,
and, running close by the city of Nagpur, meets with an eruption of
granite, and then touches the sandstone basin of the Kanhan and
Kolar, after which it again encounters plutonic rocks on its passage
up the right bank of the Kanhan to Dewagad. At this ancient Gond
fortress, the upland tract of Multai, which constitutes the north-west
side, joins that last described, and completes the parallelogram.
Tn addition to this, the main body of trap within our area, and
connected with it, there is a smaller development of the same forma-
tion in the north. Stretching south and east from Dewagad, it fills
up the space between the Kanhan and the Pech, and, sweeping
westward round the granite at Chindwad4, and eastward by way of
the summit of Kurai Ghat to Siwani and Chapara, it merges, along
with the Mathur range of hills, in the basaltic district that extends
to the Narbadda at Jabbalpur.
The above is, I believe, all the overlying trap within our area,
with the exception of one or two isolated portions south-east from
Suit, near Waroda and the confluence of the Pain Ganga with the
Wardha.
Gramtie and schistose rocks.——The plutonic and metamorphic
formation, the extent of which I shall now briefly indicate, lies chiefly
in the eastern portion of our area. It is intersected by the Wein
Ganga for the greater part of its course. The tract on the left bank
of the river I have had little opportunity of exploring ; but, from the
cursory examination I have given it, I have reason to believe that
granite and its allied rocks are there very largely developed, being
only occasionally diversified by patches of sandstone and variegated
shales, among which red shales predominate. On the right bank of
the Wein Ganga, in the district near its junction with the Wardha,
the extent of the formation is not so great. It is observed princi-
pally in the channel of the Wein Ganga, though it may also be traced
around the bases of the sandstone chains of hills, which it has been
352 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the means of upheaving. In both the districts under consideration
the general strike of the strata is N. & S., corresponding with the
direction of the streams and mountain-ranges, and in that last men-
tioned the dip is for the most part to the west. But it is on the
north that the greatest development of granite and crystalline schists
occurs. ‘There we may perceive these rocks rising to the surface
(though it would be hazardous to conclude that there are not others
of a different character in the hollows covered up by the deep soil)
from Nagpur north-eastward to the Lanji Hills,—a distance equal to
the length of our trappean parallelogram, and with a breadth in pro-
portion. This second parallelogram is applied perpendicularly, but
unequally, to that previously described. Near the line of contact,
z. e. in the district near Nagpur, the gneiss and other metamorphic
rocks, like the hills and tributaries of the Wein Ganga, which run
through it, had uniformly an east and west direction, with veins of
the massive rock penetrating them at right angles to the strike.
This is the case with the crystalline formation north of the Kampti
quarries, which has communicated to the sandstone strata there and
at Silewada a southerly dip. As the granitic eruption, however, is
traced up the basin of the Kanhan, it is seen to bend round a little,
and to give a westerly inclination tc the sandstone at Babulkheda,
Tondakheiri, and Adassa. From the last-mentioned place it pro-
ceeds northwards past Saner and Kelod, in a narrow stripe on both
sides of the Kanhan up to Dewagad. Beyond this we find it rising
up around Chindwada, and running west into the shaly beds of Jam-
wahi and Hardagad. But returning to the neighbourhood of Nag-
pur, we discover parallel to the great body of the granitic formation
on the north of Kampti a range of quartz hills running in the line of
the strata westward from Waregaum to Gumtara. The plutonic
force, which has tilted up these, has greatly disturbed the limestone
rocks at Korhadi, and given to the sandstone at Bokhara, on the
south of the Kolar, the same dip as we observe at Silewada and
Kampti on the north of that river.
Sandstone.—But let us now refer to the sandstone formation,
which I have said exists in the central parts of our area, though only
the wreck of what it once was. Its upper member, reduced in thick-
ness by metamorphic agency, may be observed horizontally entering
the trap-hill of Sitabaldi on the east side, and again emerging on the
west. It is then wholly displaced by gneiss and granite towards the
Nag River, after which it again becomes the surface rock for a short
distance to the west, until it is a second time overlaid by trap. It
remains thus concealed for sixteen miles, when it is seen on the north-
west of Yahar at Nimji, whence it extends to Satnawari on the south-
west and Kotwalbadi on the north-west. At these villages it is a third
time covered up by trap, nor does it in that direction rise again to
tne surface within our area, or indeed, I believe, anywhere beyond
it. The division of this formation which proceeds to the north of
Nagpur occupies a part of the basins of the Kanhan and Kolar from
Kampti on the south-west to Kelod on the north-west, being about
thirty miles long and twelve broad. Its north-eastern border touches
-
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. goa
the great granitic tract, which stretches from Nagpur to the Lanji
Hills, while its south-western boundary is constituted by the trap,
surrounded by which two of its detached portions are found at Kut-
kheiri and Chorkheiri, near the source of the Kolér. Were we to
follow the direction of these outliers, they would lead us to the sand-
stone hills beyond our area, that skirt the southern side of the trap
chain of Gawilgad, north of Elichpur. But if we suppose the sand-
stone continued north-west in the line of the Kanhan’s course, we
arrive, after crossing some miles of trap and granite, at the beds of
carbonaceous and clayey shales, which, running under the trap-range
of Mathur, appear on the north side, and form the base of the lofty
development of sandstone at the Mahddewas. The largest body of
this formation, however, lies to the S. in the basin of the Wardha
and Pranhita, extending, with only a few slight intrusions of plutonic
rocks at Segaum and the north-west of Chanda, and some outliers
of trap indicated on the map, from the termination of the basaltic
effusion at Jamgaum Hill and Suit, south-west into the Nizam’s
country by Kota, until within a short distance of Badrachellam.
A very marked feature in the geology of the country between the
Tri and the Wein Ganga is the occurrence of ranges of sandstone-
hills, running for the most part north and south, corresponding im
general direction with ranges of the same formation in the district of
Kota, described by Dr. Bell*. These hills, where they have fallen
under my observation, rise from plains of plutonic rocks, by which
the strata have been indurated and elevated, though still retaining
their horizontal position. Such are the flat-topped chain which
stretches on the east of Segaum, and that which terminates in the
castle-like bluff of Perzagad. On either side of the Wein Ganga we
meet with some isolated remnants of the sandstone formation. One
of these, but very limited in its dimensions, lies on the banks of the
Selari, a small stream which joins the Wein Ganga near the town of
Pawani. Another farther down the river extends for some distance,
first on the right bank and then on the left. In the district on the
east of the Wein Ganga, a little sandstone proper is met with at Koka
to the north-east of Bandara, and on the banks of the Wag River
near Ambgaum, and on the east side of the Nawagaum Lake, from
which it extends south as far as Mahagaum; while on the west of
the lake there is an abundance of shale, which is also seen to cross
the road from Nagpur to Rayepur at Mundipar Ghat and Jamnapur
near Sakorali. These argillaceous strata, which are red, green, and
as partly at Mundipar even white, seem to be the same as the fossi-
liferous laminated clays at Korhadi. In addition to the dolomitic
strata at Korhadi mentioned above, there are eminences of the same
crystalline limestone running eastward among plutonic rocks from
the Pech, on the west bank of which river higher up there is a small
patch found along with a little outcrop of sandstone at Dudhgaum,
surrounded by trap. ‘
Laterite, &c.—In various parts of our area we meet with beds of
laterite, covering the rocks already described. I have not found it
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 230.
VOL. XI.— PART I. 7 2B
354 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
on the west of Nagpur; but it is seen abundantly within the trap-
district at Sdgar N. of Dudhgaum, and at Pandaratalaw S.W. of
Umred. At Karanla, KE. of the same town, it overlies plutonic
rocks, and from Pawani on the Wein Ganga it stretches in a broad
belt sometimes over sandstone and at other times over gneiss and
granite towards Weiragad. South and west of this throughout all
the province of Chanda it occurs more or less. I have already men-
tioned the fact of its resting on dolomite at A/mbagiri. At Mahonda
on the Kanhan, straight east from Nagpur,—at Dharmapuri and
Karbi in the basin of the Sur River, which flows from Ramtek into
the Wein Ganga,—and again in the neighbourhood of Chandpur
further up the Wein Ganga, the same formation is presented to view.
But it is on the east bank of the river that its most extensive
development is witnessed. Crossing the Rayepur road at several
places it unites on the north of it to form extensive tracts in the
district of Lanji, and all around Hatta and Kamta.
The superficial deposits that are superior to laterite are either red
or black. The former is found in general where plutonic rocks,
sandstone, or laterite prevail, though instances are not rare of the
latter being met with in such situations. The ‘‘regur,” or black
soil, occurs almost universally where trap abounds.
Description of the Strata.—Having thus given some account
of the extent of the formations within our area, as they appear
on the surface, I shall now endeavour to point out in a descending
order their thickness, nature, contents fossil or mineral, as the case
may be, and age.
I. Superficial Formations.
1. Black Soil or Regur.—The regur is of no great depth in this
district, seldom if ever exceeding 20 feet. In some places, as at
Takli village, it is seen to overlie a stratum of brown tenacious clay,
which, like itself, is much mixed with “ kunker.”? I have not suc-
ceeded in finding any organic remains in the regur except bones of
oxen and sheep, of very doubtful antiquity.
2. Red Soil.—The red soil in our area is of greater depth than
the black, frequently displaying a section of 50 feet. Like it, it
“seems to rest on a brown calcareous clay, at the bottom of which
there is in general a layer of conglomerate. In river-basins it alter-
nates with layers of loose sand and gravel, often imbedding existing
fluviatile shells of the genera Melania, Cyrena, and Unio. In the
district west of Nagpur, the rivers often expose a bed of sand and
gravel cemented by a small quantity of lime, and in its consolidated
state furnishing blocks of sandstone or conglomerate two or three
feet thick. This stratum for the most part is unfossiliferous, but
near the Kolar, about ten miles north of Nagpur, there occurs in it
an abundance of Paludina, Melania, and Cyrena, which, though be-
longing to existing species, from the nature of the matrix have been
much altered since the period of their deposition. Of some the
cavities are simply filled with siliceous and calcareous matter, but in
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. BHD
the greater number of instances the shell has been completely
absorbed, and employed as a cement in aggregating the particles of
the rock. A similar deposit is seen at Nagalwada near Elichpur, to
the west of our area; but there, in addition to the fossils just men-
tioned, it includes Limneus, Planorbis, and Unio. On the banks of
the Sarpan River, near Tondakheiri, 14 miles N.W. of Nagpur,
there is an accumulation of the freshwater shells previously enume-
rated, with a considerable intermixture of a species of Bithinia and
a few specimens of land shells—Helixz and Bulimus. Mingled with
these remains of Mollusca, there was a quantity of jaws, vertebree,
and other portions of Mammalia, which were not much petrified ;
but, I regret to say, they were accidentally destroyed before they
could be examined*. In the bank of the Kanhan at Kampti about
45 feet under the general surface I found the shoulder-bone of some
mammifer, much increased in weight from the process of petrifaction.
Bones in the same state have been discovered lying above ground,
between Nagpur and Kampti, which must have been washed out of
the kankaraceous red soil.
Judging from the relation of the regur and red soil to the brown
clay, I am inclined to regard these two formations as contempora-
neous; and, from the evidence of the fossils contained in the latter,
I would class both as Post Pliocene.
II. The Brown Clay, on which I have said both the red and black
superficial deposits rest, averages, together with its underlying Con-
glomerate, a depth of 20 feet. The clay is not known to be fossili-
ferous, but in Takli Plain there were found in the conglomerate
apparently the tusks of a large mammal, which had been completely
converted into stone, but they were so much affected by the weather
as to fall to pieces on being removed. The formation containing
them, I suppose, should be assigned to the Newer Pliocene, and will
rank with similar deposits at Jabbalpur and elsewhere.
III. Laterite——This formation seldom exceeds 10 feet in depth
anywhere in our area. No fossils have yet been discovered in it
here, but diamond-mines have been opened in it east of Nagpur.
Malcolmson +, and after him Newbold, inferred the identity of the
sandstone of Central with that of Southern India, from the existence
of diamonds at Weiragad, a town about 80 miles S.E. of the capital.
The inference, however, is drawn from erroneous premises, which
would have been corrected, had these authors personally visited the
spot. At Weiragad there is no sandstone near the diamond-mines ;
the only rock in the vicinity is quartzose and metamorphic. It
has been too much taken for granted, im my opinion, that the
diamond-conglomerate of Southern India is connected with the
sandstone, within tracts of which it is sometimes found; and hence
the arenaceous strata of the Peninsula have actually come to be
* Some fragmentary bones, from the banks of the Sarpan, imbedded in a sandy
earth and associated with numbers of Melania, Paludina, and Unio, form part of
the series of organic remains forwarded by Messrs. Hislop and Hunter. The bones,
having been kindly examined by Prof. Owen, prove to have belonged to Ruminants
of two sizes,—such as a Buffale and a small Antelope.— Ep.
+ Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc. Jour. vol. i. p. 250.
356 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
designated by the name of diamond-sandstone. Now, although the
diamond-conglomerate has been found reposing on sandstone beds,
yet there is no instance, that I am aware of, of the diamond having
been extracted from any one of them; nor are there any data to
prove that the conglomerate derived most of its materials from that
source. On the contrary, Heyne* has shown that the pebbles at
Kondapetta and Ovalampalli, near Kaddapa, are chiefly of chert and
jasper-basalt, quartz, hornblende, and felspar. The first two have
evidently been derived from the limestone of the neighbourhood, and
the rest from igneous rocks. And these pebbles are not contained
in a paste of sand, but, according to Heyne, of clay+. It is true
the diamond-conglomerate may in one place overlie sandstone ; but
in another place, as at Kondapetta, it may rest upon limestone,
while in a third, as at Beywada, near Masulipatam, according to the
statement of Captain Newbold, it may be found immediately above
gneiss t. In short, I am inclined to concur in the verdict long ago
pronounced by that experienced Indian observer, Dr. Heyne, when
he remarked, ‘‘ All the diamond-mines which I have seen can be
considered as nothing else than alluvial soil’? (superficial deposit).
But if the matrix of the diamond be a surface-deposit overlying
several rocks, I can perceive no propriety in attaching its name to one
of these more than another. The matrix at Weiragad isa lateritic
grit, and it is worthy of notice, that wherever the precious gem is
sought for, whether in India or Brazil, there for the most part oxide
of iron is diffused.
Having myself met with no fossil in this formation, I have nothing
to offer by way of determining. its precise age, but would content
myself with remarking, that it must be posterior to the overlying
trap, on which it is found occasionally, though in our district very
rarely, to rest. '
IV. V. and VI. Trap and its enclosed sedimentary Formation.—
The next rock to Laterite in order of downward succession is the
overlying trap, with which, however, for the sake of perspicuity it
will be necessary to combine the freshwater formation previously
alluded to and the underlying trap.
Trap, it was before stated, is the prevailing formation in the west
of our area; but when that assertion was made, it was understood
that this volcanic rock is of two kinds,—one overlymg, and the
other underlymg,—and that between these two, and therefore seldom
exposed to view, there is for the most part found.an aqueous de-
posit. All three generally occur together. The exceptions are met
with in the plains, on the outskirts of the trap-formation, where we
not unfrequently observe the usually enclosed stratum resting im-
mediately on sandstone without the presence of either the upper
or lower basalt. In some of these instances it is probable that
the overlying rock has been removed, and cases occur of its re-
maining where no underlying trap has ever existed. On the other
hand, there are examples in similar border-localities of a single sheet
* Tracts on India, p. 97. t+ Ibid. pp. 96 and 105.
~ R. As. Soc. Jour. vol. viii. p. 245.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. aay
of trap extending over sandstone without being associated with a
second sedimentary formation or volcanic effusion.
Though the three formations are generally connected with each
other, yet it is chiefly the upper one, viz. the overlying trap, that
meets the eye over the face of the country. Leaving out of con-
sideration the very few examples of denudation which have uncovered
the freshwater deposit in the plains, and the equally rare instances
of eruption which have there upheaved it on its edge, it is cn the
escarpments of the table-lands that we may be said to gain our whole
knowledge of this department of Nagpur geology. In commencing
our ascent of these steep hills, our attention is attracted by a number
of blocks near the foot, which are easily distinguished from the
masses of basalt among which they have fallen from above. As we
make our way up over the hard, dark, vesicular rock, the blocks in-
crease in number until we come to a friable greyish or bluish-green
zone. We must now move slowly and look narrowly, for a few
yards of upward progress may conduct us from the soft amygdaloid,
where fragments are thickly strewed, to a nodular basalt, where not
a trace of them is to be seen. Occasionally the freshwater forma-
tion is so thin that a very little earth or herbage may suffice to hide
it from our sight. But generally the water from the brow of the
hill in the monsoon collects into little rills just at the place where it
leaves the nodular trap, and having now gathered enough of strength
to make an impression on intervening barriers, it proceeds to plough
up the soft deposit, and the still softer subjacent amygdaloid, leaving
an interval between each streamlet, like a talus resting on the harder
vesicular rock below (see fig. 2). The thickness of the overlying
trap on Sitabaldi Hill and the tabulated summits in its immediate
vicinity is from 15 to 20 feet, which agrees very exactly with the
Fig. 2.—Sectional View of one of the Trap Hills near Nagpur.
« a ey -
= aS _Pese b
Vea S202 2 aStatke
af ef Sa0 Zt Ss
SS \\|
\
Sa ~ = i an ee 2
a. Surface soil. c. Freshwater deposit.
6. Nodular trap (15 to 20ft. thick). d. Soft amygdaloid. e. Hard amygdaloid.
thickness assigned to it by Dr. Voysey at Jillan. On the Western
Ghats, however, according to Colonel Sykes, a stratum of earthy
jasper, which is just our freshwater deposit, was found near Junar
under a thickness of from 300 to 600 feet of basalt *. But it not
unfrequently happens, that in leaving the plain and climbing up a
* Trans. Geol. Soc. 2 ser. vol. iv. p. 419.
358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
trappean hill we may come upon the freshwater deposit at three di-
stinct elevations. There is first the stratum which underlies the nodular
trap generally throughout the plain, and which may be seen some-
times laid bare at the commencement of the ascent ;—then, after
passing over hard and soft amygdaloid, we come to another bed,
overlaid by nodular trap; on gaining the top of this we reach a
terrace, which conducts us to another ascent, where we find ere
mounting to the summit a repetition of amygdaloid, sedimentary
rock, and globular basalt. An example of this occurs at the
hill of Gidad, 40 miles S. from Nagpur, the top of which has been
Fig. 3.—Section of Gidad Hill.
East. West.
b
pemeg l neg
a. Freshwater deposit, as seen in the plain, of a white colour.
b, Freshwater deposit, of red colour, under the terrace.
c. Freshwater deposit higher up, brownish green in colour.
appropriated by the disciples of a Musalman saint, named Shek
Farid, to a mendicant establishment, which is supported by the
donations of Hindus and Muhammadans alike, from all parts of the
Nagpur territory. See the accompanying section of the hill from east
to west (fig. 3), where @ is the deposit in the plain, white; 6 the same
stratum of a red colour under the terrace; and ¢ a repetition of it
higher up, brownish green. Whether there was a fourth stratum
above c, the quantity of brushwood and want of time prevented me
from observing. That all these strata are one and the same, though
they differ in hue, I have no doubt. When we become acquainted
with the changeableness of this deposit within a space of a few yards,
its different phases on the eastern declivity of Gidad Hill occasion no
difficulty. Near Katol, 40 miles N.W. from Nagpur, a similar
appearance is presented. There a thick stratum of red clay lies at
the foot of the hill, and we see its tendency to slope upwards and
lean against the ascent ; but we leave it behind, and come upon the
amygdaloid, which emerges from under it. The amygdaloid is over-
laid by a bed of red clay, which is surmounted by nodular trap con-
stituting a terrace. Above this, before we reach the summit, we
_meet with a succession of amygdaloid, red clay, and nodular trap
again. In ascending the ghat to Gawilgad Fort, which however is
beyond the limits of our map, the same thing may be observed.
The slope is so steep, that the road is carried in a winding direction
up its face, and, although there are no terraces, yet, if I remember
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 359
right, the traveller comes upon one deposit, which is there of a deep
red clay as at Katol, three or four times successively.
From the remarks now made it will be inferred, that the stratum
in question is extremely varied. Not only is it of all colours and all
mixtures of tints, but it is of all kinds of substance, and all forms of
structure. At one place it is calcareous, at another siliceous, at a
third clayey, and at a fourth a compound of all three. Here it is
soft, and there indurated ; frequently the upper layer, which is next
the overlying trap, is hardened, while the lower part remains un-
changed. Here it is crystalline, there cherty, and elsewhere scoria-
ceous. In one spot it is full of fossils, in another and neighbouring
locality it is utterly devoid of all traces of ancient life. In one part of
a hill we see it six feet thick, but as we follow its line along the face
of the escarpment we may witness its reduction to little more than an
inch. I know not one constant feature that is characteristic of it.
In judging of its identity a very useful guide to follow is its position
between the nodular trap above and the vesicular trap below; but
even this, as we have seen, fails us on the outskirts of the formation.
Extensive experience, that enables us to combine several criterions
that would singly be insufficient, is here, as in so many other cases,
the only sure help towards arriving at a correct decision.
The greatest depth of the underlying trap, from its lower part
being generally concealed, it is impossible to ascertain. It is obvious
that according to its greater or less development the plain rises into
a gentle swell or increases to the dimensions of a hill. Near TaAkli,
at the spot where almost all the fruits have been discovered, it is
only a few inches thick, and a few yards from that locality it thins
out altogether; whereas at Sitabaldi Hill, where it is observed to
rest on sandstone, it attains a thickness of 100 feet; and in hills
where its superposition on the sedimentary rock cannot be seen it
must be a great deal thicker.
I have been thus minute on the appearances exhibited by the
overlying and underlying trap and the deposit enclosed by them, in
order that we may have a clear idea of their relation to each other.
The conclusions to be derived from my description I need scarcely
indicate. It is quite evident, that before either of the volcanic rocks
was poured out in our area there had been deposited on the sand-
stone a stratum which must have been at least six feet thick. Over
this there was spread a molten mass of lava, which hardened the sur-
face of the stratum, and itself cooled into a flat sheet of globular
basalt about 20 feet thick. After a period of repose the internal
fires again become active, and discharge another effusion, which in-
sinuates itself between the sandstone and the superior deposit ; and
accumulating in some parts more than in others, through force of
tension ruptures the superincumbent mass, tilting up the stratum
and scattering the overlying trap, or raismg both stratum and trap
above the level of the plain, either leaves it a flat-topped hill, or with
boiling surge pushes up its summit gradually or by fitful effort. In
these convulsions, the more recent trap, where it has not tilted up
359 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the deposit altogether, has generally encroached upon it, entangling
some of its fragments, converting the greater portion of it into a
crumbling vesicular rock, or producing miniature outliers of amyg-
daloid from materials susceptible of the change.
[Fossi/s.—As the detailed description of the fossils of this Tertiary
formation and of the older Sandstone series will form the subject of
Part II. of this Memoir, and be published hereafter, the fossils of
the fresh-water deposit are here merely referred to in short.
From the collections made by Messrs. Hislop and Hunter and
their friends from this deposit*, the authors mention the following
organic remains :—
Small bones, probably reptilian.
Remains of a freshwater tortoise.
Fish-scales, both Cycloid and Ganoid, in great numbers.
Insects, found at Takli: Mr. Hunter enumerates about ten species
of Coleoptera.
Entomostracans ; five or six species of Cypris.
Mollusca, land and freshwater, in great numbers. The following
genera are enumerated :—
Bulimus. Melania. Limneus.
Succinea. Paludina. Unio.
Physa. Valvata.
Plant-remains: Mr. Hunter enumerates—
Fruits and seeds, about fifty species.
Leaves, exogenous, six forms.
, endogenous, three or four.
Stems, exogenous, few species ; some specimens 6 feet in girth.
, endogenous.
Roots, six or seven kinds.
Chara, seed-vessels.
In concluding his notice of the Tertiary insects and plants, Mr.
Hunter observes :-—
Before quitting this part of the subject, it may be observed, that
it would not be difficult to conceive with some degree of accuracy
the nature of the locality in which the fruits grew. Going back to
the tertiary epoch, we find Takli part of a lake, extensive enough
to be bounded at least on the west and south, and prcbably on all
sides, by the horizon. We assume rather than can demonstrate the
existence of islands, which break the uniformity of the sea-like
expanse of waters. On the higher land of these are ferests, mainly
of exogenous trees, some approaching 6 feet in girth. More scattered,
but yet sufficiently numerous to attract notice, are palms, exhibiting
* An extensive series of organic remains and of rock-specimens from the super-
ficial deposits, the tertiary beds, the fossiliferous sandstone and shales, and from
the crystalline rocks, has been presented to the Society by the Authors of this
memoir. The fossils, however, have not yet been ully worked out.—Ep.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 361
on their stems, when closely examined, protuberances of aérial roots,
similar to those so frequently observed on the Wild Date of India.
In the more shady valleys are leguminous and other plants, in great
variety and profusion ; and there may be seen occasionally climbing
by numerous tendrils over the bushes, a cucurbitaceous plant allied
to the Lujfa, its tender stalk weighed down by a ponderous and
probably 10-angled fruit. The Mipadites here and there fringes the
marshy shores ; and wherever the water is shallow there rise abeve it
the reedy peduncles of Aroid plants, terminated at one season of the
year by spikes of flowers, and at another either by long succulent
purple fruit, resembling mulberries, or by large pericarps, that without
minute examination might be mistaken for cones. |
Age of the Freshwater Deposit.—It has already been shown by
my esteemed colleague, in his concluding observations on the tertiary
plants (see above), that the body of water in which the strata containing
the above-enumerated fossils were deposited must have been a lake.
I shall now inquire at what period that lake existed. The determina-
tion of this question is attended with peculiar difficulties. In a
temperate climate like Britam, the discovery of a large number of
organisms fitted for a tropical abode at once demonstrates that the
rock in which they occur cannot have been deposited subsequently to
a remote tertiary period. Here, however, where we have a tropical
heat at the present day, the evidence derived from such a source is
much more equivocal.
Still I think there are sufficient dissimilarities between our recent
and fossil floras to prove the great antiquity of the latter. While
there is a general resemblance between the two, inasmuch as Hedy-
sareea, Cassia, Luffa, and Nipa are comprehended in both, there
may be remarked on the other hand the total extinction of two
genera, if not an order of endogenous plants, that once flourished
luxuriantly here,—I refer to the mulberry-like and strobiliform fruits,
which, though formerly so abundant, have at present no representa-
tive either in India, or so far as I know, throughout the world. We
must therefore direct our thoughts to some period comparatively
remote, when there was a greater uniformity of temperature over all
parts of the earth. Of the more ancient tertiary floras, none corre-
sponds with ours so well as that of the London Clay of Sheppey and
Belgium. In both of these localities we find Mipadites, and in the
former also the Xylinosprionites and Tricarpellites of Bowerbank,
fruits apparently allied to those found at Nagpur.
Of all the animal remains we have collected, scarcely one seems to
be identical with forms now existing on the surface of the globe.
The nearest approximation to specific identity is in one of the Cyprides,
and in the minute discoid Valvata ; but whether the identity is com-
plete, I am not competent to say. Supposing, however, that it were
proved to be so, this fact would merely show that of all the living
tribes inhabiting the waters, or the margin of our old-world lake, not
one has survived in India, except a single species of Cypris, for the
Valvata minuta is not now found here, nor indeed does any species
of that genus appear to occur throughout Asia. But with these most
362 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
diminutive exceptions, if exceptions they are to be called, the state-
ment holds good that between our ancient and our modern fauna the
agreement is not closer than generic. In the class of fishes, the
resemblance even to that extent is true only of one order,—the
Cycloidans ; while the other order, the Ganoidans, which have left
their horny and bony scales so abundantly in our rocks, have entirely
disappeared from our rivers and tanks. Of the class Mollusca, while
the genera Planorbis and Ampullaria, now so common in our pools,
are altogether absent from this deposit, Valvata and Physa, so
extensively represented in it, both in species and individuals, have
disappeared from the plains of Central and Southern India. Of the
six genera Melania, Paludina, Iimneus, Bulimus, Succinea, and
Unio, which are common to both ancient and modern India, the
differences between the recent and fossil species, especially in the
Paludina and Limneus, are very great. Of the former, we have
nothing at all so large as the P. Benga/ensis of the East, or even the
P. vivipara of Britain. In the latter genus, none of our species
appear to have belonged to the inflated type, but they are generally
more on the model of the LZ. glader, than that of the L. stagnalis
of our native country.
Combining then these facts, on the one hand we have the total
dissimilarity between every species of our ancient and modern plants,
—the disappearance from our flora of several genera, if not of some-
thing higher—the difference in prevailing type between some of our
fossil and existing genera of molluscs, and the removal of others
entirely from our continents to regions most remote,—and lastly, a
still more decided transference among the orders of our fishes,—data,
which all point to the negative conclusion, that it is no newer tertiary
that can be compared with our freshwater deposit. On the other
hand we find generically, specifically, and individually an equality, to
say the least, between our Ganoid and Cycloid fishes, and a resem-
blance between our flora and that of the London Clay,—proofs which,
in my opinion, lead us on to the positive inference that among older
tertiaries the eocene formation is that with which our freshwater
deposit must be classed. Bronn, I perceive, assigned it to the era
of the continental molasse. Whether or not the statements above
made will be sufficient to show that this view is incorrect, it is not
for me to say; at all events, the fossils, which we have contributed,
will enable others to decide.
Extent of the Freshwater Formation.—The extent of this tertiary
freshwater formation throughout India is very great. In Capt. Sher-
will’s recently published Geological Map we find it laid down on the west
of Rajmahal on the Ganges. Following the same parallel of latitude,
we come to Rae near Narwar, about forty miles south of Gwaliur,
whence specimens of Physa were obtained by Mr. Fraser, formerly
Agent to the Governor General in the Sagar and Narbadda territories.
At Sagar itself organic remains were first discovered by Col. Sleeman,
afterwards described by Dr. Spry, and more recently investigated by
Capt. W. T. Nicholls of 24th Regt. M.N.I. East of Jabbalpur,
in the same territories, occur the sites Suleya, where Dr. Spilsbury
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 363
procured Physa in 1833, Dhunra in the same vicinity, Narayanpur
near Sohajpur, Mandla, and Phulsagar, on the north bank of the Nar-
badda, and as far up the river as Mohtura and Domadadar, in the
Ramgad Raja’s country,—at all of which localities the same in-
defatigable and successful geologist found shells, including an abun-
dance of Physa, several specimens of Unio, and, if I may judge from
.the figures, of Zimneus and Valvata. None of them, however, are
named *. North of the Narbadda, near Mandla, univalve and bivalve
shells abound in the marls and earthy limestone, as we learn from
Capt. Dangerfield, who styles them ‘‘ Buccinum and a species of
Mussel” (Physa and Unio?)t. Leaving the Narbadda, and coming
to the Tapti, near its source, we find that Voysey, as has been men-
tioned by Malcolmson, in his memoir on this deposit, discovered
shells, which he named ‘Conus and Voluta”’ (two forms of Physa?),
at Jirpa and Jillan, which lie apparently on the north of the Gawilgad
ranget. On the S. of the same chain of hills near Elichpur, are
Muktagiri and Bairam, whence Dr. Bradley procured the excellent
specimens of Physa and Unio, which I had the pleasure of sending
to the Geological Society. Returning to Jirpa, we enter the district
of Betul, about 100 miles N.W. of Nagpur, which was explored by
Capt. Ousley, who found shells at Chichundra and Murkha on the
E. of the town, at Bharkaw4dé, Bheiawada and Jawara on the S.,
and at Badori, Kolgau, Gaikham and Bakur, on the S.W. Passing
over the localities within the State of Nagpur, to which sufficient
reference has been made in the previous part of this paper, we arrive
at the district north of Hyderabad, where, I am informed by a friend,
Physe have been extracted from one of the banks of the Godaveri at
Nandur, and where also fossils were discovered near Hatnir and
Mantr by Malcolmson, and at Medkonda, Shiwalingapa, and Deglur
by Voysey, who as early as 1819, when organic remains were almost
unknown in India, met at these localities with shells, including, as he
thought, “ Turbo, Cyclostoma, Buccinum, Helix, and Turritella,”’
some of which may be identified as Physa and Valvata. Not far
from Deglur, on the S. side of the Manjara, Capt. Newbold obtained
specimens of Physa at Munapilli§, and again from between Kulkonda
and Digai, on the banks of the Bhima, he was presented with speci-
mens of Paludina deccanensis by Capt. Windham. These are all
the fossiliferous localities for our tertiary formation with which I
have become acquainted, with the exception of Bombay, and Pad-
pangali near Rajamundry, afterwards to be more particularly noticed.
But besides these, there are many places where the same deposit
occurs destitute of organic remains. For example, my friend Mr.
Hunter and myself, on a mission tour, traced it almost without in-
terruption from the vicinity of Nagpur, where the fossils cease, west-
ward to Elichpur, a distance of 100 miles and upwards; and, while
the material of the rock was sometimes a whitish lime, and at others
* Bengal As. Soc. Journ. vol. viii. p. 708.
+ Malecolmson’s Central India, vol. ii. p. 329.
+ Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. v. pp. 570-1.
§ Bengal As. Soc. Journ. vol. xiii. p. 987.
364 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
a green or a red clay, we were uniformly unsuccessful in finding i
it any kind of fossils. Similar differences are exhibited in the un-
fossiliferous stratum around Shiwani. At Garhakota near SAgar,
thence to Tendukheda on the Narbadda, wherever Major Franklin
met with trap, he “always found it in association with earthy lime-
stone*.”? The experience of Capt. Dangerfield regarding its position
was somewhat different, he having met with it in certain parts of
Malwa, as “a thin bed of loose marl, or coarse earthy limestone,”
“near the bottom of the small hills and banks of the rivulets+.”’
The country between the Wardha and the trap region described by
Col. Sykes has not been examined by any geologist, so that no site
can be named in it for lacustrine formation except Jalna; but I
remember noticing it on my first arrival in India, nme years ago, at
many localities, though I have now forgotten their names. But
when we come to the scene of Col. Sykes’s efficient labourst, we can
trace it almost everywhere under the name either of “ ferruginous
clay,” or ‘‘pulverulent limestone.’ The stratam of “ red ochreous
rock,” varying in thickness from an inch to many feet, and in texture
from friable to compact earthy jasper, occurs at Nandur and Jibur
near Ahmednagar; at Kothul; in the scarps of the hill part of
Harichandargad, and a mountain near Junir; and at Sirur, Wangi,
and Barloni, between which two last-mentioned places the bed is
believed to be continuous. Finally it occurs abundantly on the
Ghats, frequently discolouring the rivulets, and giving a ferruginous
character to the soil, over a considerable area§. Pulverulent lime-
stone is generally found in layers, varying from an inch to three feet
in thickness, and covered by a few feet of black earth. Examples
of it are met with at Jib and Islampur near Ahmednagar ; at Kar-
kamb and at Salseh, ten miles S. of the fortress of Karmalil.
Crystalline limestone, which occurs as an imbedded mineral in amyg-
daloid§, and ‘“ great masses of mesotype**,” which are found in
a similar position, seem to me, if I may judge from the analogy of
the district of Nagpur, to be instances of our formation somewhat
transformed. The ochreous rock or ferruginous clay above mentioned
was discovered by Newbold at Sindaghi, in the Southern Maratha
country, which lies south of Col. Sykes’s district, and it was described
by him as “ finely laminated bright red bole,” from 3 to 6 feet thick ++.
And this is most probably the origin of the ‘‘red clay,’ which
Newbold on analysis found to be the basis of the amygdaloid in which
zeolitic crystals abound ff.
The strata of Bombay have been described in an able and luminous
manner by H. J. Carter, Esq., of the Bombay Medical Service $§. In
thickness they greatly surpass anything we meet with in Central
India, reaching to between 40 and 50 feet, and they are peculiar in
* As. Researches, vol. xviii. pl. 1. p. 33. tT Malcolmson, vol. ii. p. 328.
$+ Geol. Trans. 2nd ser. vol. iv. § Ibid. p. 419.
|| Ibid. p. 420. q Ibid. p. 421. ** Ibid. p.'425.
tt Royal As. Soc. Journ. vol. ix. p. 33. tt Ibid. p. 35.
§§ Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc. Journ. vol. iv.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 365
having a little carbonaceous matter covering some of the vegetable
remains. The fossils themselves, however, whether animal or
vegetable, bear a remarkable resemblance to those which have been
brought to light at Nagpur. Thus we find among them a fresh-
water tortoise,—the elytra of insects,—an abundance of Cyprides, one
species of which appears to correspond with the C. cylindrica (Sow.),
first found by Malcolmson,—a few indistinct impressions of shells
like Melania,—fruits and seeds, though not of the same genera as
ours,—ensiform endogenous leaves, like the Nagpur specimens,—
cormiform roots, which differ from ours only in being larger,—and
an abundance of dicotyledonous wood.
At Padpangali or Pangddi near Rajamundry, not far from the
mouth of the Godavari, there are found some outlying trap hills,
which Gen. Cullen pointed out to Dr. Benza as fossiliferous. That
gentleman visited the place, and described one of the eminences as
consisting at its base of sandstone, which is overlaid by amygdaloid
veined with jasper, then a limestone deposit with fossils, and finally
a sheet of basalt. The fossils were stated by Dr. Benza to be partly
marine, and partly freshwater ; but, as his statement was made at a
time when not much attention was paid to the distinction between
these two classes of shells, it was supposed that it might be incorrect.
I confess that I myself was guilty of this wrong to the memory of
an able geologist. However, I took steps to discover the truth, and
through my friend Lieut. Stoddart, employed in connection with the
Godavari public works, I have ascertained, I am happy to say, that
Dr. Benza is substantially right. His Oysters were real oysters,
though his ‘“‘ Ampullariz ” most probably belonged to some species
of Physa. ‘On only one of these hills,’ says my intelligent in-
formant, ‘could I find any Oysters; but there, I must say, they
were as plentiful as stones.” At the foot of a hill opposite to this, |
Mr. Stoddart found several kinds of shells, and among them a Physa
identical with a species common around Nagpur, which was in the
same block with a Chemnitzia. 'There seems to be a great variety of
molluscous remains at this locality, and it would well deserve a
longer investigation than my kind friend was able to give it *.
Here then we have the best proof which similarity of position and
specific identity of contained fossils can afford, that the deposit
enclosed in trap at Padpangali is properly contemporaneous with our
freshwater deposit in Central India, although a majority of its
organisms are truly marine. It is evident that it was here our great
collection of fresh water, stretching either in one continuous sheet. or
interruptedly a distance of 1050 miles, in a direct line from Rajmahal
to Bombay, and of 660 miles from N. to the neighbourhood of Pad-
pangali, discharged itself by an estuary into the sea. Whether this
great expanse of freshwater was one or many lakes, cannot now be
determined, in consequence of the disappearance of trap from many
situations where once it must have existed, but I am persuaded that
the more careful the exploration made in the great basaltic region
* A small series of fossils from Padapangali sent by the authors comprises
Ostrea, Cardium, Venus, Chemniizia, and Nerinea ?—Ep.
366 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
of Western India, the more evident it will become that the mtervals
between the lakes, if any there were, must have been exceedingly
small. This was the conviction left on my mind by travelling from
Nagpur to Elichpur, and this I think will be the feeling produced in
the mind of any one, by taking a glance on a map at any district,
like Col. Sykes’s, that has been surveyed, even without a reference
to a lacustrine deposit.
Minerals in the Trap.—I ought now to describe the minerals
contained in our overlying and underlying trap; but this has been
so well done by Voysey, in his remarks on the structure of Sitabaldi
Hill*, that it is unnecessary. One of the most common in the
locality just named, though elsewhere rare, is a pitchy black sub-
stance, with a sloe-like bloom upon it, linmg the amygdaloidal
cavities. This Voysey appears to have called ‘‘ Conchoidal augite : ”’
my friend Dr. Carter supposes it obsidian. It occurs in bands lying
one above another, which may be followed to a great distance in a
horizontal direction. The intermediate spaces seem as if they had
been successive effluxes of volcanic matter, running along beneath the
freshwater deposit, and then under one another, each efflux bemg
united or welded to the preceding one by a vesicular belt. Many of
the minerals that are met with in the amygdaloid are derived from
the tertiary strata. This is particularly the case with jasper, the
veins of which, as may be learned from Benza’s description of Pad-
pangali Hill, and as we perceive in numerous places in this vicinity,
are situated just at the zone of the vesicular trap’s intrusion on the
superior deposit. Sometimes instead of being jaspidified, the en-
tangled parts of the strata are converted into chert, at other times
they are crystallized into ponderous masses of mesotype. In one
locality the calcareous matter is diffused as strings all through the
amygdaloid, forming seams of kankar, like those represented by
~ Newbold*+ ; in another they are scarcely enclosed within its substance,
but remain in blocks at the lower part of the deposit, which are
compact externally, but in the interior, where the heat has continued
longest, are found to be an aggregation of crystals.
On the plain south of Gidad Hill there is lying about a great
abundance of spherical nodules, which on being broken up exhibit a
structure radiating from a central point, so that they have been
mistaken for Alcyonitest. The fakirs, who have located themselves
on the top of the eminence, have adroitly taken advantage of this
natural phenomenon to exalt the name of the saint whose disciples
they profess to be. These nodules, according to them, are so many
fruits and spices of different sorts, which Shek Farid converted into
stone, the largest having ence been cocoa-nuts, the middle-sized
betel-nuts (Areca), and the smallest nutmegs. There is a resemblance
of the nodules to the last two natural productions ; but, as all alike
display an acicular crystallization, it is difficult to trace the similarity
of the largest to the fruit of the cocoa. Much light must be imtro-
* As. Res. vol. xviii. p. 123.
+ R. As. Soc. Journ. vol. ix. p. 33.
¢ Journ. Beng. Asiat. Soc. vol. ix. p. 625.
-
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 367
duced into this land befcre the inhabitants shall be convinced of the
falsehood of the alleged miracle, and shall be able to understand
that the seeming organisms are simple zeolitic concretions that have
issued from the soft subjacent rock. Nodules of the same shape are
found in the same formation at Sonegaum, near Kalmeshwar, fifteen
miles N.W. of Nagpur, but, being purely calcareous, their interior
consists of a confused mass of rhombic crystals.
The Age of the Trap.—Beginning with the more recent, as we
have done in regard to the stratified rocks, we find that the amyg-
daloid or underlying trap has not only invaded the tertiary forma-
tion, but broken it up, and along with it the nodular basalt, by which
it is capped. The amygdaloid eruption, then, is incontestably sub-
sequent to the basaltic. But what age is to be assigned to the latter ?
It is evidently posterior to the freshwater beds on which it rests.
We have thus an overlying effusion of nodular basalt, which has
taken place after the tertiary strata, and an underlying intrusion of
amygdaloidal trap, which has occurred after the basaltic effusion.
Besides these two formations of trap, I know of no others in Central
India, either more modern or more ancient. Capt. now Col. Grant,
in his paper on the Geology of Cutch*, and Dr. Carter, in his
memoir on the Geology of Bombay before quoted, have adduced
ample proofs to show that in the districts which they have examined,
there have been eruptions of volcanic matter subsequent to the
amygdaloid ; but in all the district through which my colleague and
myself have been called to travel, no trap formation so modern has
fallen under our observation. Nor has any more ancient than the
overlying trap been discovered. It might be thought from the
occurrence of isolated pieces of trap in the lower part of our fresh-
water strata, that while these were being deposited, there were sheets
of volcanic rock already on the surface of Central India. But it
appears to me that there are no such fragments whose existence may
not be accounted for on the principle explained by Lyell in his
‘Manual,’ 4th edition, p. 446, and stated im a preceding page of this
paper. Besides at Bokara, and some parts of 'Takli plain, where the
amygdaloid has not been intercalated under our tertiary formation at
all, but where the latter, with its characteristic fossils, rests imme-
diately and conformably on the sandstone, there is not a trace of
voleanic matter to be seen. I am inclined therefore to doubt the
occurrence of any trap in Central India older than our lacustrine
deposit. In the southern portion of the Rajymahal Hills, M‘Clelland+
informs us that amygdaloid is found underlying the coal-strata of
that district. The coal there is manifestly the usual so-called oolitic
coal of India, and therefore we have amygdaloid disturbing the juras-
sic formation. But, if a stranger to the locality may be allowed to
express an opinion, I would respectfully submit that the position of
the amygdaloid is not conclusive against its comparatively modern
origin. It is obvious that the most recent age attributable to an
intruded rock, such as it is, cannot be exactly determined by ob-
* Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd Ser. vol. v.
+ Report Geol. Survey of India, Season 1848-9. Calcutta 1850.
368 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
serving what strata it has disturbed in one district ; for it may have
invaded an older formation in one locality, and yet, rising higher, it
may have broken in upon a newer formation in another place; or,
applying the principle to the case in hand, the very same amygdaloid
which M‘Clelland calls secondary trap, because it has been erupted
among the oolitic strata of Rajmahal, may be tertiary trap here, if it
is, as I believe, the identical effusion which has been intercalated
between the oolitic and tertiary formations of Nagpur. But for the
conclusive determination of this question, the district of Rajmahal
with a tertiary formation found in connection with trap in its northern
part, and jurassic strata associated with trap in its southern part,
presents the most befitting arena.
Mode of its Eruption.—Before leaving the volcanic rocks, it is
desirable to indicate the lessons which Central India teaches as to
the manner in which they were formed. Now the first thing which
strikes any observer of the great basaltic field of this country is the
comparative absence of all cones or craters throughout. I cannot
name a spot in all the tract with which I am acquainted, where I
could say either the nodular basalt or the amygdaloid came up from
below. The nodular basalt seems to have flowed along for immense
distances, fillmg up the tertiary lake, and leaving an arid plain in its
rear. Then the amygdaloid inserting itself between the sandstone
and the freshwater bed seems to have flowed generally underground
on the same scale of grandeur. Sitabaldi Hill, which is almost an
outlier of the great basaltic region of Western India, being connected
with it by a very narrow neck, would be a favourable place for
ascertaining whether the underlying trap, which has there accumu-
lated under the tertiary deposit to a considerable thickness, has
been forced up vertically through the gneiss and sandstone, which
appear around the base of the hill to be inferior to it, or whether it
has been horizontally intercalated, as in the generality of places,
between the sandstone and the tertiary. I am disposed to take the
latter view; but, if the government quarry were only excavated a few
feet lower, as Voysey long ago suggested, it would put an end to all
doubt.
From the statements previously advanced regarding the trappean
rocks of Nagpur, taken in connection with the same formation in
other parts of the country, it is obvious there is no foundation what-
ever for the supposition that the great outpouring of basalt in India
took place in the ocean. And, although I believe that the fresh-
water in which it really was effused must have stretched over great
areas without much interruption, yet the discovery im the tertiary
strata of abundance of pulmoniferous molluses, such as Limneus and
Physa,—of plants, such as marsh- or shallow-loving Endogens, buried
with their roots and fruits almost entire and therefore not far from
the spot where they originally grew,—not to mention the occurrence
of an amphibious univalve like Sueccinea, and of land-sheils like
Bulimus, together with great quantities of seeds and fruit and timber,
the spoils of the neighbouring dry land,—-plaimly shows that the water
in that part of the lake was of no great depth. Indeed it seems
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 369
obvious that in places not a few the water of the lake must have been
so shallow as to allow the igneous rock which was poured out over
its bottom to rise above its surface into the atmosphere. We must
resort then to some other hypothesis than aqueous pressure to explain
the horizontalness of our trappean-hill tops, and a cause adequate to
the effect is the well-known law by which the surface of liquid bodies
is reduced to the same uniform level. To this law volcanic matter
is subject in spreading over an area either of land or water. If to
this it be objected, that then we should expect the surface of the
effusion to appear scoriaceous like modern lavas, it may be replied
that naturally all such light materials in the lapse of ages would be
worn away.
VII. The Sandstone Formation.
Under the amygdaloid, or, where it has not been intercalated, im-
mediately under the tertiary freshwater strata, is found an extensive
series of rocks consisting chiefly of arenaceous beds.
A. The upper member of this series is seen at the foot of Sitabaldi
Hill, passing into gneiss, into which much of it, as well as most
probably all the lower members, have been converted. Without
enumerating all its localities, I may mention that a good section of
it is presented by a rivulet skirting the Lal Bag, where the layer
under the nodular trap has itself been rendered distinctly nodular.
It may be observed in the western division of the city of Nagpur ;
and it stretches in some places under the amygdaloid, in others under
the tertiary bed, but for the most part as the surface-rock, through
Takli plain to Bokhara. At Nagpur and in Takli plain the strata
are of friable sand intermixed with kankar, and variegated with a
deep irony-red and occasionally a purple colour. But it is at.
Bokhara where we can understand it best. In one of the quarries
there we find it as at Nagpur, only with less of the colouring matter.
Going northward to another quarry, we see it on the way overlaid
by the lacustrine formation before described, which is capped by a
small rise of nodular trap. Arrived at the quarry, which is only
about 100 yards from the first, we find the same upper member of
the sandstone, now however no longer soft and crumbling, but so
hard that the hand-millstones of the country, which resemble Scottish
querns, are derived from it; and the ferruginous matter, instead of
being diffused as blotches, is gathered into waving iron-bands more
indurated still. At this place these upper beds, which are about
25 feet thick and very coarse, contain angular fragments of a finer
sandstone which lies below. Near Bazargau the strata where exposed
are pierced with irregular holes, which seem to have been caused by
the action of rain and the atmosphere. At Kampti, situated towards
their top, and rising even to the surface through the soil, are im-
bedded huge blocks, some of them angular, but most of them
rounded and waterworn, which contain almost all the fossils that
have been procured from that interesting locality. At Silewad4,
towards their lower part there occur a considerable number of com-
VOL, XI.—PART I. 2c
370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
pressed stems of trees im situ, one of which, presenting its thin
edge in the side of a quarry, may be traced for about 20 feet. A
few inches farther down we come to the largest of the iron-bands,
which consists of a conglomerate, about 6 inches thick, enclosing
fragments of dicotyledonous wood converted into a kind of jet and
impregnated with iron. Ferruginous bands are common not only at
Silewada, but also at Babulkheda and Tondakheiri. It is only, how-
ever, in the neighbourhood of Chanda that any one of them has
been found to contain wood in a silicified state.
B. Underlying the iron-band we come to layers of a much finer
kind, consisting of argillaceous sandstone, varymg from white to
yellow and pink, and generally containing specks of mica. These
strata, which are used for pavement and carved work, extend down-
wards for about 15 feet, when they gradually become coarser until
they are suitable for millstones. The entire depth of these layers
after their change from fine to coarse has not been ascertained.
Dispersed through them, as we saw was the case with the upper
member, are occasional angular fragments, so that it is difficult to
distinguish lithologically between the two, except that the inferior
beds always contain less oxide of iron than the superior.
It is in the argillo-arenaceous strata that we have met with nearly
all the fossils which the sandstone of Silew4d4, Bokhara, Babulkheda,
Bharatwada, Tondakheiri, Bazargau, Chorkheiri, and Chanda has
yielded; and there is every reason to believe that the imbedded
blocks of Kampti also, which have furnished so many vegetable
remains, were originally derived from them.
Chorkheiri and Chanda are the furthest limits north and south
from which I have procured fossils of the inferior member of the
sandstone ; and the fact, that the fossils are exactly the same, in
addition to a resemblance in lithological characters, demonstrates
that the strata are so also.
Between these two extreme points, however, under an outcrop of
coarse sandstone of much the same character as the generality of our
upper beds, except that it is not coloured by iron or pervaded by
iron-bands, there are found at Mangali and its neighbourhood fossili-
ferous strata applied to the same architectual purposes as our ordinary
lower strata, though they differ from them in being of a deep-red
colour, finer and more sectile, and with a larger admixture of clay
and mica. As the Mangali red slaty sandstone contains scarcely any
organic remains common to the inferior layers about Nagpur, it is
not without hesitation that I include it under the present head, and
arrange its fossils along with those of the more typical strata.
[Fossils of 8.—For the same reasons as stated above, p. 360, in
the case of the paleontology of the tertiary deposits, the numerous
fossils of this division of the sandstone series are here merely men-
tioned in short, their detailed description being deferred until the
publication of Part II. of this Memoir.
These fine and coarse argillaceous sandstones, rich with plant-
remains, have afforded,—
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 34l
Labyrinthodont Reptile* (from Mangali).
Fishes ; Small jaws and ganoid scales.
Crustaceans ; Hstheria.
Plant-remains.
Fruit and seeds; numerous and undescribed.
Leaves ; Conifer, Zamites, Poacites, and Ferns (Pecopteris, Glos-
sopteris, Teniopteris, Cyclopteris, Sphenopteris).
Stems ; exogenous and endogenous.
Acrogens; Aphyllum, Equisetites, Phyllotheca, Vertebraria. |
c. Between the sandstone quarries at Bokharé and Korhadi,
granitic rocks have lifted to the surface, with a dip of 30° to S.W.,
a series of red shaly beds; and between these and Bokhara another
species of green argillaceous strata, lying somewhat more horizontal.
The relation of these two to the sandstone beds, from the absence of
any good exposure, I have not been able to ascertain; but they
would appear to underlie it. Besides the locality now named, these
rocks are developed in the district north of Chanda ; and, as I have
been told by Mr. Sankey, the green shale covers an extensive tract
of country near Hardagad, south of the Mahadewa Hills. It is
probably the same strata that are found to lie on the west and north
of the Nawagaum Lake, and to cross the Rayepur road at Mundipar
Ghat and at Jamnapur, near Sakorali. The red shale at Korhadi
has yielded the following organic remains :—
- Fossils of c.—A reptilian footmark of one-third of an inch long,
and as much broad. ‘Three or four specimens have been obtained,
each exhibiting only one print, owing to the brittleness of the matrix.
I am not sure that all the impressions are of the same kind.
On the same specimens that bear these footmarks are seen the
tracks of wormlike animals. That the animals forming these tracks
have been Annelids resembling Earth-worms will be evident to any
one who considers the appearance of the furrows ; the way in which
the head has occasionally been pushed forward, and then withdrawn ;
the tubular holes by which the ground has been pierced, and the
intestine-shaped evacuations which have been left on the surface.
Fossil worm-borings have been found in the green shale of Tadadi,
N.W. of Chanda, seventy miles 8. of Nagpur.
The only vegetable organism which has been discovered in the
shale is a sulcated plant, which most probably belongs to the genus
Phyllotheca ; but as a sufficient length of the stem has not been
obtained to display the articulation, its precise character cannot be
fixed.
p. Immediately below the red shale there are found beds of white
marble at Korhadi, which have been greatly disturbed and dolomitized
by the plutonic rocks above referred to. Similar strata, but pink
and blue, occur in the channel of the Pech at Gokala, a little above
Parshiwani ; and still higher up at Nawagaum it rises imto a chain
of eminences, which runs thence westward to Kumari. Following
up the river still further, on its right bank we come to a patch of
* The Brachyops laticeps, Owen ; see Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol, x. p. 474;
and xi. p. 37, pl. 2.
2c 2
372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
the same crystalline limestone at Dudhgaum, where it is in the
vicinity of trap. To the east of this, at A'mbajiri in Chandpur, it
occurs again: but there, as in most of its other localities, the granite
rises to the surface in the neighbourhood. Limestone is found also
on the Lanji Hills at Kunde and near Bhanpur to the east of Hatta;
but whether it is the limestone associated with sandstone, or just a
calcareous phase of our freshwater tertiary formation, from not having
visited the spot, lam unable to decide. It seems to be comparatively
free from magnesia, in which it differs from the generality of the
strata of which we are now treating. From the heat to which these
have everywhere in our area been “subjected in the process of dolo-
mitization, we need not expect to discover in them any organic re-
mains. Newbold thought that he had found in certain cherty veins of
limestone near Karnul myriads of spherical Foraminifera. We have
also veins of chert in the Korhadi limestone, which exhibit appearances
that might be mistaken for the same objects, but they do not seem
to be really organic. The minerals most abundant in the dolomite
are tremolite and red and yellow steatite, which last, when the surface
of the rock is weathered, stands out in little prominences, as if it
were a species of lichen.
The whole series of strata which we have designated by a, B, c, D
we conceive to be only subdivisions of the same formation. They
have been disturbed by the same granitic eruptions, and, where fos-
siliferous, bear a general resemblance to each other in their organic
remains. But this mutual connection is more apparent when we
compare the series within our area with strata beyond it. From
Mr. Sankey we learn that the sandstone represented in the north-
west corner of our map is succeeded in a descending order at Chota
Barkoi by bituminous shale with fossils and sandstone, and at Bhuwan,
at the foot of the ascent to one of the Mahadewa or Pachmadi Hills,
by indurated green clay-stone and green shale, and bituminous shale
with fossils. “Again below the sandstone in the south-east corner of
the map, as we are informed by Dr. Bell, there occur argillaceous
limestone, bituminous shale with fossils, and a few alternating layers
of impure limestone and bituminous shale, until we come to a bed,
eight feet thick, of laminated ‘sandstone, &c. Situated, as our
sandstone is, between these two extreme points, and appearing to
be a bond of connection between them, we might @ priori expect
that the intermediate beds would be of the same age as those at the
localities on either side; and this opinion is confirmed by the ap-
pearance of the sandstone near NA agpur, which shares with the sand-
stones of the Mahadewa and Kota hills, the distinguishing feature,
first noticed in this neighbourhood, of bemg pervaded by ferruginous
septa. These dark-brown stripes, which in all their hardness pro-
trude from the weathered surface of the enclosing rock, will be found,
wherever they occur, a very good criterion for judging of the age of
the sandstone. But besides identity in the arenaceous beds of our
whole district, we can trace the same identity between the subjacent
strata at Nagpur, Pachmadi, and in the Hyderabad country. On
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 373
the south of the Mahddewa Hills there is the same green shale as
here and at Tadadi; and at Kotd, according to a private letter with
which I was favoured by (the late) Dr. Bell, red clay, of greater
thickness than any stratum that was passed through, underlies the
other shales which he has enumerated in his sections*: and in
localities farther south, Malcolmson states} that the shales on which
the sandstone rests are blue, red, green, or pure white; by which
last-mentioned rather rare colour we are brought in mind of some of
the strata at Mundipar. And as we are told by Newbold{, the sand-
stone of the Hastern Ghats frequently ‘‘ passes mto red and green
argillaceous and siliceous slates and laminated marls.”’ I think then,
that, though inferring the identity of Nagpur sandstone with that of
Southern India from the occurrence of diamonds at Weiragad, Mal-
colmson’s statement was wrong as to its grounds, yet it was perfectly
correct as to its matter. The position of the shale in reference to the
limestone seems to vary. At Korhdadi it is the superior rock. Such
also is its position at Bangnapilli according to Malcolmson§, and
generally according to Newbold. Ina section, however, of the Pass
at Mudalaity, given by the latter writer, we have the following order :
“compact light-ccloured sandstone, 120 feet ; limestone, 310 feet ;
shales, 50 feet; laminar and massive sandstone ;—whereas by the
section obtained by Dr. Bell|| we find sandstone, from 50 to 500 feet,
—argillaceous limestone, 9 feet,—and, after various unimportant
argillaceous, bituminous, and calcareous strata, in all 4 feet, limestone,
1 ft. 9 in., lammated sandstone and shale, 8 feet, and argillaceous &c.
strata as before, 11 feet 8 inches, we come to limestone, 23 feet, then
argillaceous and calcareous beds, 25 feet, red clay, 27 feet, and lime-
stone.” Here it would appear that shale, sandstone, and limestone
are interstratified.
Though there is no great development of carbonaceous beds in
the district which is the more immediate subject of this paper, yet
I should regard the communication as incomplete without some
notice of the position of the Indian coal in reference to our sandstone
strata. Bhuwan, in the north-west of our area, at the foot of the
Mahadewa Hills, furnishes us with a common term of comparison.
[In the foregoing observations on the so-called Jurassic (or plant-
bearing) formation of the Nagpur territory the authors recognize
four members in the following descending order :—a. Thick-bedded,
coarse, ferruginous sandstone, with a few stems of trees. B. Lami-
nated sandstone, exceedingly rich in vegetable remains. c. Clay
shales of various colours, and bearing worm-tracks and foot-marks.
p. Limestone, generally altered and crystalline. At the time when
this memoir was written, the authors thought it probable that the
Bengal coal-deposits might be referable to the shales (c) of this
series; but, having since had further opportunities of personal in-
** Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 232.
+ Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. v. p. 543.
t Journ. As. Society, vol. viii. p. 167.
§ Malcolmson uf supra, p. 541.
|| See also Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 374, and note.
374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
vestigation, they find that the carboniferous beds of Umret and the
Mahadewa Hills are true representatives of the Burdwan coal of
Bengal, and are referable, not to the Nagpur shales (c), but to the
Nagpur sandstone with plants (B). About six months since the
authors were enabled to visit* the coal-bearing deposits at Umret
and the plant-beds of Bhuwan at the foot of the Pachmadi or Maha-
dewa Hills, 120 miles north of Nagpur, some notice of which was
given to the Society by Lieut. Sankey+. A few miles north. of
Umret there occurs a descending series of sandstone, coal, argilla-
ceous, bituminous, and sandy shales, and sandstone. The shales here
represent the plant-bearing sandstone of Nagpur. At the Mahadewa
Hills the overlying sandstone (which, like that of Umret and of
Nagpur, is characterized by iron-bands) is of much greater thickness
than to the south. Under this sandstone of the Mahadewas come
green shales and bituminous shales, equivalent to those of Umret.
From the examination also of the fossil plants (Vertebraria, Trizygia,
Phyllotheca, Cyclopteris, Glossopteris, Pecopteris, and Spheno-
pteris) plentifully occurring in all these localities, the same conclu-
sion is arrived at, namely, that the shales of Umret and the Maha-
dewas are truly equivalent to the plant-bearing sandstone of Nagpur,
which last, indeed, in some places has argillaceous modifications.
The bituminous shales of Kota, on the Pranhita, appear to belong
to the same series, and underlie the iron-banded sandstone, as in
other localities. The Kota shales have afforded fish-remains of a
Jurassic type (Lepidotus and Aichmodus) ; and at one place, Man-
gali, between Kota and Nagpur, the equivalent of the Nagpur plant-
bearing sandstone has yielded the Labyrinthodont Reptilian skull,
lately described in the Society’s Journal by Prof. Owen. The ex-
tension of the bituminous and anthracitiec shales in other localities,
namely, Duntimnapilly, Singra, on the Bagin River, Umla Ghat, &c.,
is alluded to by the authors in their recent communication ; and they
remark, that, on the south, north, and east of the Nagpur territory,
the carboniferous shales are thus seen to hold the same relation with
the overlying iron-banded sandstone ; and that, though it is difficult to
comprehend the Burdwan coal-field in the comparison, as it lies in a
basin and has no overlying formation, yet the fossils are very similar
to those of the Mahadewas, Umret, and Nagpur, and bear evident
proof of the contemporaneity of the whole.-—July 1855.—Ep. |
Thickness of the Strata.—a. 'The highest beds as exposed in the
quarries of Silewdd4 and Bokhara average about 25 feet of coarse
sandstone with iron-bands; below which there are 15 feet of argil-
laceous sandstone, B, with an abundance of fossils, and an undeter-
mined depth of coarse sandstone beneath. These constitute what
Dr. Carter, in an able ‘Summary of Indian Geology,’ which I have
just received, calls the Panna sandstone. From outcrops of this
subdivision of the sandstone series in other localities near Nagpur,
[* A notice of the results of this visit was read at the Meeting of the Society,
June 13, 1855.]
[ft Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 55.]
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 375
the whole thickness of the highest beds may be reckoned at about
200 or 300 feet. At Kota, as we have seen, it ranges from 50 to
500 feet, at Mudalaity 120 feet, and at the Mahadewa hills, accord-
ing to Mr. Sankey, 2700 feet, which must be its greatest develop-
ment. c. The depth of the shales at Korhadi and Tadadi seems to
be—green about 30 feet, red 50 feet. At Kota, omitting inter-
stratified argillaceous limestone and sandstone, all the argillaceous
thin strata united amount to 29 feet, red clay 27 ; while at Newbold’s
section of Mudalaity, where the shales, usually reddish, underlie the
limestone, they attain a thickness of 50 feet. vp. The limestone
which underlies the shale has been much disturbed by granite at
Korhadi, so that we cannot fix its thickness precisely ; but I should
think it cannot be less than 100 feet—at Mudalaity it is 360 feet.
Under this limestone, which is included in Dr. Carter’s excellent
paper, along with shales and coal under the name of Kattra shales,
there occurs, as Newbold has shown in Southern India, and Franklin
in Bundelkhand, another series of sandstone rocks, for which Dr,
Carter proposes the name of Tard sandstone ; but, as most probably,
owing to the intrusion of the granite, this member of the formation .
does not occur in our neighbourhood, I have nothing to say re-
garding it.
Character of the Formation.—There can be little doubt that the
upper strata are lacustrine. The occurrence in them of such an im-
mense collection of terrestrial vegetation, intermingled with Poacites,
taken in connection with the total absence of Fucoids and other
marine plants, shows very plainly that they must have been deposited
in fresh water. And, as no river could have covered the extent of
surface which these beds occupy, we are bound to conclude that,
like the tertiary rock previously described, they must have been
formed in a lake, a conclusion which the discovery of Lstheria (or
Iamnadia), with their two valves entire, and congregated together as
they are found in their usual haunts, fully justifies. Again the
abundance of worm-tracks and borings in the red shale of Korhadi
and the green shale of Tadadi renders it more than probable that
the strata at these localities constituted the margin of an ancient
lake and not of a sea or even of ariver. Of the origin of the dolo-
mitic beds it is impossible to give any certain account, owing to the
transformation which they have undergone, though we may suppose
they follow the analogy of the other members of the formation. The
character of the upper strata at Elichpur, as would appear from the
fossils discovered by Dr. Bradley, is exactly the same as at Nagpur.
The Lepidotus which has been found at Kota, from its association
with terrestrial vegetable remains, has been pronounced to have been
probably an estuary or inshore fish; but, as the genus also occurs
abundantly in the freshwater strata of the Wealden, it may be per-
ceived that the strata at Kota are not of a different origin from those
im our neighbourhood. This supposition is rendered more likely by
the fact, that, while no marine vegetation is said to have been de-
tected there, a piece of the shale which Dr. Bell kindly sent me bears
the impression of a bivalve exceedingly like a Cyrena or Cyclas. Dr.
376 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
M ‘Clelland seems to suppose that the Burdwan coal-measures were
deposited in a sea, for in the last plate of his Survey already referred
to he has figured a fossil which he has called Fucotdes venosus ; but
any person who compares the plant there represented with the Glos-
sopteris figured in his plate XV. under the name of G. reticulata will,
I believe, agree with me in considering both plants generically, if not
specifically, the same. I infer, therefore, that there is no evidence
whatever to prove that our sandstone, or the shale at Kota, or the
Bengal coal-measures, were deposited in the sea ; but on the contrary
every reason to believe that they were all formed in a large body of
fresh water.
Age of these Strata.—The coarse iron-banded sandstone above, and
the more fissile strata lying conformably below, which are undoubt-
edly of one and the same era, require first to be considered. For the
sake of clearness, however, I shall refer to the latter member alone,
as it has afforded most of the fossils, and furnishes the best data for
comparison with the rocks of other localities. Some of the seed-
vessels which it has yielded bear no very distant resemblance to those
of the Stonesfield slate; Asterophyllites? lateralis, to use the pro-
visional name proposed by Bunbury, and the forms of Pecopteris,
show its near connection with the carbonaceous shales and sandstones
of Scarborough ; Phyllotheca, Glossopteris, and the narrow fronds
of Cyclopteris, if M‘Coy’s figure* be truly of that genus, mark out
the relation to the coal-beds of New South Wales, while Teniopteris
magnifolia, and sulcated stems in all respects corresponding with
Phyllotheca, testify to the agreement with the Virgmian carboni-
ferous strata. These coincidences, some of which, as in the so-called
Asterophyllites? and Teniopteris magnifolia, seem to amount even
to specific identity, along with the remarkable relations which the
distant localities exhibit among themselves, forma network of proof,
which in my opinion binds down all the various series of rocks to
about the same epoch,—an epoch which the known position of the
Stonesfield and Scarborough strata show to be Lower Oolitic.
Whether the Mangali sandstone is to be reckoned contemporaneous
with these,—whether the two different kinds of strata there—the
coarse thick-bedded upper and the fine fissile lower—are to be
reckoned the equivalents of our A and B, is a question which observa-
tion in the field and a comparison of the respective fossils do not
enable me to answer. ‘The massive sandstone at Mangali, as has
been said, is destitute of iron-bands, and the inferior argillo-arenaceous
strata are much redder than ours; and especially the organisms of —
the lower strata at the two places are very dissimilar. Here they
are all vegetable, while there they are almost exclusively animal.
Only one of the fossil plants at Mangali appears to us to bear a re-
semblance to anything found in this vicinity. At the same time, if
any inference is to be derived from the succession of the rocks there,
it is in favour of the idea that they are the counterparts of our A
and B. And that they cannot in age be far removed from them, is
proved by a comparison, not of the Mangali fossils with others in this
* An. Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. pl. ix. fig. 3.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. . STF
territory, but of both these with those across the Atlantic. Our in-
vestigations in the resemblances of the sandstone fossils show that the
Nagpur fossiliferous strata are connected with the Richmond carboni-
ferous formation by Teniopteris magnifolia, while the Mangali fos-
siliferous strata are still more closely linked to it by the discovery of
what appear to be Aspidiaria, Knorria, and the interesting groups
of large and small Limnadiade. Here, then, we perceive that the
lower beds at both of these Indian localities bear a relation to the
Virginian coal-measures, characterized by an apparent specific identity
of fossils ; and, though the genera of which the species seem to be
identical are not the same in both cases, yet it is obvious from the
sort of ex equali argument which we may be permitted to use, that
these lower beds must stand pretty closely connected with each other.
But I do not wish to push to an extreme reasoning on a pomt which
the progress of investigation here may soon elucidate by finding the
strata under consideration in juxtaposition. Meanwhile I consider
myself warranted in asserting, that our Mangali rocks cannot at all
events be older than the Jurassic, if under that term the Lias is also
included. Indeed the head of the Labyrinthodont tends to com-
municate to them a Triassic aspect ; but, if the Jurassic character of
their abundant flora be taken as the real indication of the age of these
rocks, we arrive at a conclusion which brings out the interesting fact,
that the family of Labyrinthodonts, instead of being confined to the
Coal and Trias, survived (in the East) until the period of the Lower
Oolite.
Regarding the age of our shale c, which there is every reason to
believe underlies the coarse and fine sandstones a and Bs, I have little
to say more than that it cannot be much older than these. The
occurrence of worm-tracks, as well as of faint traces of Phyllotheca,
will not allow me to consider it anything but part of the same Jurassic
formation. But as I have endeavoured to show that the coal-measures
of Burdwan are equivalents of our plant-bearing beds, and therefore
belong to the Lower Oolitic group, it will be necessary to make a
few remarks to establish the correctness of this view.
On the age of the coal-measures of Bengal two opinions have been
submitted to the public within the last four years :—one in 1850 by
Dr. M‘Clelland in his “ Geological Survey,” and the other in the
course of the present year by Dr. J. Hooker m his interesting
“* Himalayan Journals*.”’
Dr. M‘Clelland’s sentiments, which in 1846 were very decided as
to the true Paleozoic character of our Eastern coal+, seem to have
remained the same at the period of his more recent publication on
the subject ; for we find him in his “ Survey,” while admitting the
[* This portion of the paragraph on the “ Age of the Sandstone” has been
remodelled since the reading of the Paper, so as to introduce the necessary
references to the opinions published by Dr. J. D. Hooker in his most interesting
work on the Himalayas.—June 14 and Sept. 6, 1854. |
tT ‘There cannot, however, be a doubt as to its belonging to the true coal-
formation, from the nature of the coal itself, as well as of the beds with which it
is associated.”—-Secretary of the Calcutta Coal Committee on the Coal of the
Great Tenasserim River, in Committee’s Report, p. 138. Calcutta, 1846.
378 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Oolitic age of some bluish-white indurated clays at Dubrajpore in
the Rajmahal Hills, nevertheless placing the shales, sandstones, and
seams of coal of Burdwan, and of Mussinia and Kottycoon in the
Rajmahal Hills, as an intermediate formation, which he styles the
“* Coal-measure,’’ between the Inferior Oolite mentioned above and
what he supposes to be the ‘‘Old Red Sandstone.’ After deducting
specimens of Fucoides, which I cannot, with the aid of his figures,
distinguish from those of Glossopteris, there are seven genera, to
which he refers as ‘‘ Indian coal-measure fossils.” Of these, four,
viz. Sphenophyllum, Poacites, Calamites, and Pecopteris, he says,
are “common to the coal-measures of Europe.” In the conclusion
which would naturally be drawn from this statement I cannot concur ;
and hence it is necessary to review the grounds on which it is made.
The three genera not mentioned are Zamites, Teniopteris, and
Glossopteris. Of these, the first two are held to be well nigh cha-
racteristic of the Jurassic period, while the remaining genus, though
unknown in Europe, must, from the circumstances in which it is
shown to occur, now be acknowledged to be equally a Mesozoic plant.
And with regard to the four genera specified, I do not suppose that
Dr. Royle will assent to the identification of his Trizygia with Sphe-
nophyllum; and, if any specimens of the genus Calamites had been
preserved for description, I have little doubt they would have proved
to belong to our “‘non-tuberculated class of opposite sulcated jointed
stems,’ which abound in formations above the true coal-measures.
The genera Poacites and Pecopteris I have found in our “ Jurassic”’
strata, and a specimen of the latter here is so like one figured by
M‘Clelland that it is difficult to resist the conviction that they do
belong to the same species. If to the evidence now adduced there
be added that afforded by the occurrence of the peculiar plants
Vertebraria indica, Trizygia speciosa, &c. at Burdwan and Bhuwan,
I think little probability will remain of the Bengal coal-formation
being Paleeozoic.
Dr. Hooker, in commenting on the opimion of Dr. M‘Clelland,
which he supposed to be in favour of the Oolitic age of the Burdwan
coal-field, at the commencement of his first volume endeavours to
prove that no inference can be deduced from the plants discovered
in those strata. In his second volume, however, he puts forth an
opinion of his own, which, though not formally enunciated in
regard to the Burdwan series of rocks, may be gathered from his re-
marks on the carbonaceous shales near Punkabarree. On these
shales there were ‘‘ obscure impressions of Fern-leaves, of Trizygia
and Vertebraria, both fossils characteristic of the Burdwan coal-
field, but too imperfect to justify any conclusion as to the relation
between these formations*. And then, in a foot-note, it is added,
“these traces of fossils”’ (including a fragment of bone as well as
vegetables) ‘are not sufficient to identify the formation with that of
the Siwalik Hills of North-West India; but its contents, together
with its strike, dip, and position relatively to the mountains, and its
mineralogical character, incline me to suppose it may be similar.”
* Himalayan Journals, vol. ii. p. 403.
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 379
It may appear presumptuous in me to impugn the view of one who,
from personal as no less thau hereditary claims, is entitled to the
utmost respect on the subject of vegetable remains. I feel, how-
ever, that the learned author has been led away by his distrust of
the evidence afforded by fragments of plants to rely on the more
uncertain indications of mere lithological phenomena. Do strike,
dip, &c. furnish us with such strong testimony on the question of
age, that for their sake the Punkabarree shales are to be denied a
place with the Burdwan beds which have Ferns, Trizygia, and Ver-
tebraria, and to be ranked with the Siwalik rocks, which, I believe,
have none of the three? Or, if the carbonaceous strata at both
places are allowed to be contemporaneous, are both to be classed as
Miocene or Pliocene, when the Bhuwan shales, which like them
exhibit “impressions of Fern-leaves, of Trizygia, and Vertebraria,”
immediately underlie sandstones whose numerous fossils, not to
mention those of Burdwan itself, are decidedly not more recent than
Jurassic ?
It only remains to add, that the age of the dolomitized limestone
cannot be expected to be determined by the evidence of fossils ; but,
as in other localities, it is not unfrequently found to alternate with
the shale c, it may be set down as nearly coeval with it ;—thus
making the whole series of rocks from a to p to correspond with the
lower members of the great Jurassic formation,—reaching perhaps
from about the position of the Scarborough strata downwards into
the Lias.
VIII. Plutonic and Metamorphic Rocks.—At the end of a paper
which has already extended to such a length, it would be unbecom-
ing to say much on this part of our subject. We have in the city of
Nagpur, and many localities to the east of it, the usual combinations
of gneiss and quartz-rock, mica and hornblende schist, with massive
granite. The peculiarity of the last-mentioned rock in the streets of
the capital is, that it is generally a pegmatite, consisting of flesh-
coloured crystals of felspar with quartz, disposed so as often to take
the appearance of graphic granite. But very frequently it occurs
with the felspar compact, in large white masses, which then have
much the appearance of a pure dull porcelain. In Nagpur the most
common rock is gneiss, passing into mica-schists. The former rock,
when fresh, is quarried, though not extensively, for building; and
when disintegrated, for the repairing of the roads. But for both of
these purposes respectively trap, in the two conditions mentioned, is
preferred. Masses of white quartz appear here and there in the
city, some with crystals of black schorl, and others with scales of
gold-coloured mica. The range of plutonic hills on the west of
Kampti, which is indeed only a narrow prolongation of the great
granitic district in the Wein Ganga basin to the east, has been thrown
up by an eruption of granite corresponding nearly with the course of
the Kolar. The massive rock which lies in the channel of the river,
unlike that of Nagpur, is generally grey and very micaceous. Above
it, forming the N. base of the range, lies mica-schist, passing into
granular schistose quartz, which is overlaid by a stratum of dark-
380 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
grey, glistening, resinous quartz, and then by a considerable thick-
ness of white quartz with scales of mica. This constitutes the ridge
of the range for about its entire length from Waregaum to Gumtara,
and with its snowy-whiteness attracts attention from a great distance.
At the northern base of the range, between the quartz and the dolo-
mite of Korhadi, there are interposed some beds of granular quartz-
ose rock, which has very much the appearance of beimg an altered
sandstone; in which case it might be the representative in this part
of the country of the ‘Tara sandstone.’ But throughout the field
of crystalline limestone at Korhadi there are many eruptions of
granite, which just rise to the surface without any intermediate meta-
morphic rocks at all. In some of those instances the granite is
garnetiferous, and at its junction with the dolomite the latter, besides
its usual ingredients of steatite and tremolite, is intermingled with
mica. At Halyadoba, N.E. of Umred, chlorite-schist with garnets
is quarried for pavements ; it abounds along the course of the Amb
River. At Shegaum various plutonic rocks rise from under the sand-
stone, and extend northwards to Karsingi. The first which appears
in the north street of Segaum is syenite, in which the felspar and
hornblende greatly preponderate over the quartz. About 300 yards
to the north this is succeeded by another kind of syenite, in which
red felspar is combined with a small proportion of quartz, and a large
quantity of a green mineral (epidote or diallage?). This rock
(euphotite ?) seems to be massive, and, if we may judge from the
fragments of it lying on the surface, is the prevailing rock for some
miles. In an adjoining plutonic area, a little to the north, there is
an extensive development of pot-stone at Jambul Ghat. The rich
dark kind that possesses a small metallic lustre has hitherto been
reserved by Maratha authority for the manufacture of idols; but the
lighter-coloured varieties, which are more common, occurring also at
Dini near Rampaili, and at Biroli on the Wein Ganga, near Tharora,
have been long used for fashioning into vessels. Steatitic schists of a
pure white tint, with a few imbedded garnet crystals, occur at Kaneri,
on the Chulband river, and at various other localities east of the
Wein Ganga. In many parts of this river’s course, and in the
Lanji Hills, hornblende rocks, both schistose and massive, abound.
A coarse kind of corundum occurs at Dali Ghat, on the road from
Nagpur to Ragepur.
Metals.—Small quantities of gold are found near Lanji in the
sands of the Son river, a tributary of the Wein Ganga. In some
fragments of quartz-rock on Nima Hill, west of the Pech river, Col.
Jenkins found galena. Where this rock is associated with dolomite,
as at Kumari, it contains manganese. But the principal ore which
it yields is iron; this may be obtained in immense quantities in the
province of Chanda, both on the east and west of the Wein Ganga.
Near Dewalgaum, only three miles from the east bank of this navi-
gable stream, which communicates by the Godavari with the Bay of
Bengal, at Masulipatam, in the midst of a level country covered
with jungle, there is a hill named Khandeshwar, consisting of strata
tilted up at an angle of 60° or 70°, the dip being to the north. The
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 381
summit of the hill is about 250 feet above the level of the plain,
100. feet being gradual ascent through jungle, and the remainder
an abrupt wall of naked rock. The iron-ore is for the most part
specular, though many specimens possess polarity, and seem to be
magnetic. It is on the surface of the slope that it is most valuable ;
but the whole mass, from an unknown depth under ground to the
highest peak above it, is richly laden with metal. This single hill
might furnish iron for the construction of all the railroads that shall
‘ever be made in India, and with its abundance of fuel and cheapness
of labour, and convenience of situation, it is admirably adapted tor an
export trade to every part of the country. But besides this locality,
there are others in the neighbourhood which could each contribute
an unlimited supply of the same indispensable metal. Among these
may be mentioned Lohara, Ogalpet, and Metapar, Bhandpur, Menda,
and Gunjawahi, which are all on the W. of the Wein Ganga; and
at all of which places the ore seems to occur in quartz, and is some-
times granular, but for the most part compact. Unimportant crystals
of it are scattered through the pegmatite of the capital. Notwith-
standing that the specular ore is so abundant, there are many districts
on the north of those already named where the hydrous oxide, in
the shape of the heavier lumps of laterite, are selected for smelt-
ing by the poor natives, whose tools are anything but adapted for
contending with the hard masses of the metamorphic matrix or
gangue.
Age of the Plutonic and Metamorphic Rocks.—These evidently
do not all belong to one and the same epoch. Col. Jenkins observes
that at Nayakund on the Pech, to the north of Nagpur, he met
with “a grey granite, composed chiefly of whitish felspar in very
large crystals,” a mass of which ‘was distinctly traversed three
or four times by granite-veins,’ accompanied by as many heaves.”
The granite of the veins was smaller-grained and redder the more
recent it was, and, to the best of that officer’s recollection, was desti-
tute of mica. Without, however, more extensive artificial sections
of the rocks im this neighbourhood than have ever been executed, I
fear it will be difficult to fix the respective ages of the different erup-
tions. A cursory view of the question would lead to the supposition
that the micaceous granite is more ancient than the pegmatite ; but,
in areas where both are presented in the vicinity of each other, the
soundness of this view may be questioned, or at all events it appears
to be impossible in the present state of the country to have it con-
firmed. The pegmatite of Nagpur city, which we have said is
associated with gneiss, mica-schist, and quartz with mica and with
schorl, is evidently a very recent eruption, for it has not only con-
verted much of the very hignest member of the jurassic sandstone
into gneiss, but it has completely upheaved it. That the eruption,
therefore, was posterior to that formation, there cannot be the slightest
doubt. But it has sometimes occurred to me, though the observa-
tions of the most eminent Indian geologists are opposed to the thought,
that this pegmatitic outburst may be subsequent even to our trap.
The section (fig. 1) at page 350 may throw some light on this
382 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
doubtful point. In this section we have the overlying trap (a)
occupying the two summits of Sitabaldi Hill, under it the tertiary
freshwater formation (6) and the intruded amygdaloidal trap (c)
which has encroached on it. At the foot of the hill is the upper
sandstone (d), which has been metamorphosed to a great extent by
the gneiss (e), or rather by the pegmatite (f) beneath. On the
north part of the hill the gneiss comes to the surface; but a little
further north it is, together with the sandstone, overlaid by trap.
This trap, which agrees with that overlying the tertiary beds in
being nodular and poor in minerals, resembles in the very same
respects the amygdaloid where it constitutes the superficial rock on
the ascent. Proceeding in the same line, we find the trap cease and
the sandstone upheaved. After this mterruption the trap is again
seen to be on the surface. Now the question arises: what is the
reason that the trap is not found where the granite has thrown up
the sandstone? The most obvious reply is, that once it was there,
as it is seen on either side, but that by this eruption it was removed ;
in which case the plutonic rock would be of more recent origin
than the voleanic. But, as there is the alternative of the latter
never having been spread over the position of the former, and as
this alternative is favoured by the examination of other localities,
I content myself with merely submitting the case for determination,
merely stating that my latest observations lead me to believe that the:
trap is of later age than the granite. At all events the section un-
doubtedly shows that the pegmatite and some of its accompanying
gneiss are of an age subsequent to the upper sandstone. And yet in
a layer of conglomerate contained in the red shale of Korhadi we
meet with pebbles of undulated mica-schist very like that which
occurs in the present day between Suradi and Korhadi. Rocks of
this character, then, whether we are right or wrong in suggesting their
connection with any still existing, did exist before the deposition of
the red shales.
Conclusion.—In tracing the geological history of this district from
the facts that have been brought forward, we are made to feel that .
the early epochs are involved in the utmost obscurity. While in
many other countries the records of what took place in Paleeozoic
times have been preserved in successive strata of the earth’s crust,
in the Dakhan they have been wholly obliterated. It is not until we
come down to the Jurassic era that we meet with archives whose
characters can be read. Then we find that Central India was covered
by a large body of fresh water, which stretched southward into the
Peninsula, and eastward into Bengal, while on the north and west it
eommunicated by some narrow channel with the sea. On the shores
of this lake earth-worms crawled, and small reptiles (frogs) crept over
the soft mud. In its pools sported flocks of little Entomostracans
resembling the modern Estheria, mingled with which were Ganoid
fishes and Labyrinthodonts. The streams which fed it brought down
into its bed the debris of the plutonic and metamorphic rocks which
then constituted the greater part of the dry land, and which were
covered with an abundant vegetation of Ferns, most of them distin-
HISLOP AND HUNTER—NAGPUR. 383
guished by the entireness of their fronds. Low-growing plants with
grooved and joimted stems inhabited the marshes ; and Conifers and
other Dicotyledonous trees, with Palms, raised their heads aloft.
Meanwhile plutonic action was going on, and strata, as they were
formed, were shattered and reconstructed into a breccia; and finally
an extensive outburst of granite elevated the bed of the lake and left
it dry land. The sea now flowed at Pondicherry and Trichinopoly,
depositing the cretaceous strata which are found there.
At the end of this epoch Central India suffered a depression and
was again covered by a vast lake, communicating with the sea, not
towards Cutch as before, but in the neighbourhood of Rajamandri,
to which the salt water had now advanced. When the lake had
during its appointed time furnished an abode to its peculiar living
creatures and plants, it was invaded by an immense outpouring of
trap, which filled up its bed, and left Western and a great part of
Central India a dreary waste of lava. But these basaltic steppes
were ere long broken up. A second eruption of trap, not now coming
to the surface, but forcing a. passage for itself under the newer
lacustrine strata, lifted up the superincumbent mass in ranges of
flat-topped hills. Since then, to the east, water has swept over the
plutonic and sandstone rocks, and laid down quantities of transported
materials impregnated with iron, and some time after there were
deposited in the west a conglomerate, imbedding bones of huge
mammals, and above it a stratum of brown clay, which immediately
preceded the superficial deposits of the black and red soils.
I have to acknowledge my great obligations to Lieut.-Col. Alcock,
of the Madras Artillery, and Drs. Leith and Carter, of Bombay, tor
assisting me in obtaining access to books (or extracts from them), of
which I should otherwise have been deprived.
The map (Pl. X.) of the district described is coloured geologically
from an excellent political map given in Rushton’s Bengal and Agra
Gazetteer for 1842. The formations between Chindwada and the
Mahadewa Hills are laid down from a sketch obligingly furnished to
me by Mr. Sankey.
DONATIONS
TO THE
LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
From January \st, 1855, to March 31st, 1855.
I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.
AMERICAN Journal of Science and Art. 2nd Ser. vol. xix. No. 55.
Jan.1855. From Prof. Siliman, For. M.G.S.
J. L. Le Conte.—Volcanie springs in South California, 1.
F. A. Genth.—Contributions to Mineralogy, 15.
E. de Beaumont, and others.—Report on M. A. Perrey’s Re-
searches on Earthquakes, 55.
Lachlan.—Rise and fall of the lakes, 60.
Aluminium and the alkaline metals, 106.
C. T. Jackson.—Analysis of allophane, 119.
E. Bechi.—Boracic acid compounds of the Tuscan Lagoons, 119.
A. C. Ramsay.—Ancient glaciers of Wales, 121.
W. B. Rogers.—Connecticut “New Red” and Virginia coal-
rocks, 123.
E. Forbes.—Foliation of metamorphic rocks, 122.
Colour remaining in fossil Testacea, 126.
Arsenate and Vanadate of Lead, 127.
N. v. Kokscharov.—Ripidolite and Clinochlore, 127.
Sir J. Richardson and W. P. Blake.—Mastodon and Mammoth,
131.
Miscellaneous ; Notices of Books, &e.
Art-Union of London. 18th Annual Report of the Council for 1854,
and List of Members.
Two Almanacks.
—
Athenzeum Journal, for November and December, 1854; January,
February, and March, 1855. From C. W. Dilke, Esq., F.GS.
Notices of Meetings.
Bengal Asiatic Society, Journal. New Series, No. 68. 1854, No. 5.
H. Paddington.—Examination and analyses of Dr. Campbell’s
specimens of copper ores obtained in the neighbourhood of
Dargeeling, 477.
No. 69. 1854, No. 6.
Breslau. Ein-und-dreissigster Jahres-Bericht der Schlesischen Ge-
sellschaft fiir vaterlandische Kultur: Arbeiten und Verande-
rungen der Gesellschaft im Jahre 1853.
Prof. Dr. Gdppert.—Ueber zellenahnliche Einschliisse m einem
Diamanten, 48.
DONATIONS. 385
A. Oswald.— Ueber das Vorkommen von Cyanit in einem Gneiss-
Geschiebe, 50.
A. Jackel.—Ueber die in der Umgegend von Liegnitz vorkom-
menden Mineralien und ihre technische Anwendung, 51.
Dr. Hensel.—Ueber angeblich fossile Menschenreste, 61.
Ueber fossile in Schlesien entdeckte Reste des
Riesenhirsches, 63.
Prof. Goppert.—Ueber die Bernstein-Flora, 64.
Ueber unser gegenwartiges Wissen von der Ter-
tiar-Flora, 80.
—— Ueber die Stigmaria ficoides, Brongn., 81.
Breslau. Nova Acta Ac. Ces. Leop. Car. Nat. Cur. vol. xxiv.
pars 2. 1854.
L. C. H. Vortisch.-— Ueber geologische Configuration (with
plate), 691.
E. F. Glocker.—Ueber die Laukasteine (with plates), 723.
C. G. Stenzel.—Ueber die Staarsteine (with plates), 751.
M. J. Ackner.—Beitrag zur Geognosie und Petrefaktenkunde des
suddstlichen Siebenbiirgens, vorziiglich der Schichten aus
dem Bereich des Hermannstadter Bassins, 897.
Canadian Journal and Proceedings of the Canadian Institute. Nov.
1854.
A. Murray.—Geology of Western Canada, 73.
A. Tylor.—Changes in the sea-level, 76.
Mining Statistics, 82, 94.
British Association Reports, 85.
———. Dec. 1854.
E. Logan and others.—Geology of Canada, 97.
Anthracite-coal in the U.S., 102.
J. Barlow.—Silica and its applications to the arts, 106.
British Association Reports, 110.
A. C. Ramsay.—Paleozoie glaciers, 114.
Glaciers of North Wales, 114.
R. Harkness.—Silurian Anthracite of Scotland, 115.
D. Page.— Paleozoic rocks of Scotland, 115.
E. Forbes.—Foliation of rocks, 115.
January 1855.
Biographical Notice of Prof. E. Forbes, 141.
British Association Meeting.
J. G. Cumming.—Changes in the area of the Irish Sea, 143.
R. Chambers.—Glacial phenomena in Scotland, 143.
Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal, vol. vii. No. 4. Jan. 1855.
C. Daubeny.—On the produce obtained from barley sown in
rocks of various ages, 289.
F. de Rouen of a surface-soil from the desert of Atacama,
Bibliography : Titles of Chemical and Mineralogical papers pub-
lished in British and Foreign Journals in 1854, 316.
Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal. No. 249, vol. xvii. Dee.
1854.
Water-supply of Birmingham, 445.
Coal-mines in France, 460.
VOL. XI.—PART I. 2D
386 DONATIONS.
Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal. No. 250, vol. xviii. Feb.
1855.
Water-bearing strata of the London basin, 64.
to No. 252, vol. xviii Marehil S55:
Pendulum experiments, 72.
S. C. Homersham.—Capacity of chalk for water, 75.
J. Dickinson.—Reports on accidents in coal-mines, 77.
J. B. Redman.—Changes of the south coast of England (with
figures), 83.
Edinburgh, Royal Society of, Transactions, vol. xxi. pt. 1. 1853-4.
T. S. Tyraill.—Torbane Hill mineral, 7.
J. S. Bennett.—Torbane Hill mineral and coal, 173.
J. H. Balfour.—Vegetables bodies in the Fordel coal, 187.
————. Proceedings. Vol.in. No. 44. 1853-4.
Dr. Traill.—Torbane Hill mineral, 199.
W. Gregory.—Diatomaceous earth of Mull, and value of generic
and specific characters of Diatomacez, 204.
Dr. Fleming.—Coal, 216.
Prof. Bennett.—Torbane Hill mineral, 217.
Prof. Balfour.—Vegetable bodies in coal from Fordel, 218.
Erfurt. Denkschrift der Koniglichen Akademie gemeinnitziger
Wissenschaften in Erfurt. Herausgegeben am Seculartage
ihrer Grundung den 19 Juli 1854.
Credner.—Versuch einer Bildungs-Geschichte der geognostichen
Verhaltnisse Thiirmgens, 1-47.
1. Bis zur Ablagerung des Stemkohlengebirges, 3-23.
2. Bis zur Zechstem-Formation, 23-42.
3. Vom Beginn der Triasformation bis jetzt, 43-47.
Frankfort. Abhandlungen, herausgegeben von der Senckerberg-
ischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft. Vol. i. pt. 1. 1854.
Hessenberg, F.— Ueber die Krystallgestalt des Quecksilber-
hornerzes (plate), 24.
Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, Journal. 3rd Series.
vol. xxvill. No. 5. Nov. 1854.
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NatuRAL
Groups.
Drvistons.
THE PALMZOZOIC ROCKS IN GERMANY.
Susprvisions,
Some LocAriries.
(Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xi. to face p. 448.)
(Unprriyine THE Trias.)
Craractenisric Fossits
in GERMANY.
British EquiyaLents,
Bast or MESOZOIC.
PERMIAN.
Keuper.
Musehelkalk.
Bunter-Sandstein-
Bunter-Schiefer.
Zechstein and
Kupfer-Schiefer.
Upper Keuper and
Sandstone, Gypsum,
Lettenkohil.
Stuttgart, Coburg, Gotha, Erfurt,
Gottingen, Nurnberg, Walters-
hausen, &c,
Mastodontosauris, Metopias, &c.
(Labyrinthodonts); Nothosaurus,
Simosaurus (Enaliosaurians),
“Keuper” Marls and Sands of
Worcester, Leicester, Droitwich,
Nantwich, &ec.
Upper Muschelkalk.
Lower, or Wellenkalk.
Weimar, Wurzburg, Jena, S. & N.
of Harz, and around the Thii-
ringerwald, Bisenach, Arnstedt,
&e.
Ayicula socialis, Terebratula yul-
garis, Encrinites liliiformis.
(Wanting.)
Upper.
Lower.
Red sandstone, &c.
Schist, with impure
limestone.
Rauchwacke, Gypsum, &c.
Dolomite, Zeclistein.
Region around Thiringerwald and
Harz, &c.
Around the Thiiringerwald, S. of
the Harz, &e.
Around the Harz and Thiringer-
Wald, and numerous tracts of
Germany.
‘Trematosaurus, .
(Odontosanrus) } Labyrinthodonts,
Calamites arenarius.
Productus horridus, Spirifer ala-
tus, Strophalosia Morrisiana, Avi-
cia speluncaria, &c,
New Red or “ Bunter” Sandstone
of Chester, Liverpool, &c.
Red and green gypseous marls
(Sedgwick). Yorkshire, Lanca-
shire, and Nottinghamshire.
Brecciated & compact limestones;
Humbleton, Sunderland; cliffs
from Hartlepool to Sunderland:
Rothe-Todte-
Liegende.
Bituminous
and
Copper Slate.
Mansfeld, Reichelsdorf, around
the Harz and Thiiringerwald.
Fishes. — Palroniscus, Pygopte-
rus, Platysomus, &c.
Reptiles —Protorosaurus (2 sp.).
Marl-slate; Sunderland and Hart-
lepool (Durham), Knaresborough
to Mansfield.
Grau- and Weiss-Lie-
gende. Conglomerate,
Red Sandstone, &c,
Around the Thiringerwald, Mans-
feld, &e,
Eisenach, Kyfhausen, Rotheburg,
S. Harz, Halle near Dresden.
Walchia and many other Permian
plants, near Zwickau.
(Psaronites) Kyfhausen, S. of the
Harz.
Pontefract Rock (Smith). Lower
Red Sandstone, &c., of Cumber-
land, Lancashire, Nottingham-
shire, Shropshire, Worcester-
Shire, Staffordshire, &c.
a
)
C)
oe
a
te
z
°
=
=
<
=)
Stein-Kohlen.
Floetzleerer
Sandstein
and * Kulm.”
Berg-kalk.
Shale, Sandstone, and
Coal.
Southern Harz, N. & S. Thuringia,
Wettin, Imenau, Westplialian &
Boliemian Coal tracts.
Characteristic fossil plants.
Archegosaurus (2 sp.).
Coal-fields of Durham, S. Wales,
Lancashire, &c.
Youngest Grauwacke
of the Germans.
Zone around the Rhenish Pro-
yinces, south-west part of the
Harz, Taunus, and Nauheim.
‘Tracts between Saalfeld and
Schileitz. ia
Fossil plants occasionally.
Millstone Grit of Yorkshire, Der-
byshire, Lancashire, and South
Wales. Culm Series of Devon-
shire. Coal-measures of a part
of Scotland.
Posidonomya-schist.
Platten-formige Kalk.
Kiesel-Schiefer.
Herhorn, Rhine, near Grund, Harz,
Ratingen, Arnsberg, E. of Hof,
Rhenish Provinces.
Posidonomya Becheri, Productus
Semireticulatus, and others.
Amplexus coralloides, &c.
Mountain Limestone Series (Phil-
Tips), Culm Limestone of Deyon-
shire, and Lower Limestones and
Coal of Scotland.
DrVOUNIAN.
Upper
Devonian.
Middle
Devonian.
Lower
Devonian
Cypridinen-Schiefer,
With peculiar land plants.
(Kramenzel-Stein.)
Flint-Schiefer.
Right bank of Rhine, Meckling-
Hausen, Laasphe, Selters, Weil-
burg, Saalfeld, and Saxony.
Westphalia (Mestode, &c,),
Serrato-striata, Cly-
Cypridina
Plants of many new
meni.
forms.
Goniatites retrorsus.
Petherwin and Barnstaple Lime-
Stone, Baggy Point Sandstone,
Upper Old’ Red of Scotland.
Ifard! Slate and Schist uf Morte
Bay, N. Devon,
Fife! Limestone and
Calceola-Schiefer.
Both banks of the Rhine, Eifel,
Paffrath, Refrath, &c. Elbinge-
rode, Harz, &c.
Stringocephalus Burtini, Megalo-
don cucullatus. Coccosteus and
other fishes.
Combe Martin, Ilfracombe, North
Devon. Plymouth and Babbi-
combe, Devonshire slates (Aus-
ten).
Middle Old Red Sandstone and
Cornstone.
Caithness Flags, with fishes and
plants.
Wissenbach Slates.
Spirifer Sandstone
ahd Slate,
(Syst. Rhénan, Dumont.)
Wissenbach and Caub.
Coblentz and bank of the Rhine,
N.-Western Harz, &c.
Bactrites, Orthocerata, Goniatit
Spirifer macropterus, Pleurodic-
tynin problematicum, Chonetes
Semiradiatus, Phacops laciniatus,
N. Foreland and Porlock, North
Devon, Torquay in S. Devon.
Lower Old Red Sandstone, and
Conglomerate of Scotland*
ILURIAN
Ss
Upper
Silurian.
Lower
Silurian.
Base of the Silurians
of Boliemia
(Barrande).
Limestones and)
Shales of Prague.
Prague; Eastern Harz.
75 species of the genera
Calymene, Cheirurus,
Gyphaspis, Harpes, and Phacops 5
Graptolites and many Cepha-
lopoda in the lower beds.
Dudlow
and
Wenlock Rocks.
Schistose Slates,
Grits, Quartzites.
Prague and Bohemia, South Thii-
ringerwald, S. and W. of Saalfeld,
Steinach, Schwartaburg, Schleitz,
&e.
Graptolites of many species,
mostly Diplograpsus ; also Grap-
tolithus Ludensis; Trilobites of
the genera Trinuclens, Aglina,
Asaphus, Tllnus, Remopleuri-
des, Agnostus, &c. Orthis, Lep-
tena, and other Brachiopods;
Gystidew, Nereites, &c.
Caradoc Sandstone
and
Llandeilo Rocks,
* Primordial zone”
of Barrande’s
Silurian Basin.
S. of Prague; South Thiiringer-
wald?
Paradoxides, Conocephalns, Sao,
Agnostus, Olenus; Orthis and
Cystider. Fucoids.
Lingula Flags of N. Wales (Stiper
Stones, Shropshire; W. flank of
Snowdon),
Slaty and Quartzose
Rocks (often green and
purple).
S. of Prague and Southern Thii-
ringerwald.
Tucoids the only fossils yet found
Longmynd Rocks (CAmpRIAN of
in Germany.
the British Geological Sur-
veyors),
*) i which the Devonian divisions of the Continent of Burope and England hear to those of the Old Ked Series of Scotland still
require Hirata Se toWENee suggested, that the Upper Old Red of Scotland, as characterized by certain species of Holoplychius and Glyplopomus, is
the Sandstone equivalent of the Upper Devonian,—z. ¢. of the “* Cypridinen-schiefer”” of Germany and the Petherwin or Clymenia Limestone of Devonshire.
The bituminous and calcareous flagstones of Caithness, with their numerous ichthyolites and peculiar plants, both marine and terrestrial, represent, it is
Helieved, the Bifelian or Middle Devonian passing down into the lower division; whilst the. coarse breccias and conglomerates in the Sandstones which:
form the Hyase of the vast Old Red Series of the north of Scotland probably occupy the horizon of the Lower Devonian or * Systéme Rhénan of Dumont.
Whether or not these suggested parallelisms be maintained, it is manifest to every one who has studied the great mineral masses of Scotland which are
included in the term “ Old Red Sandstone,” that they constitnte fall equivalents tm ¢éme of all the deposits to which in any region the name of * Deyonian
has been applied.—R I. M,, Sept, 29, 1855.
=
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a aul eatedeih Wictacivntl vCal Ae
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Bidens 9” RY BY SRLS AGU ROME oa
|. ae 1 thee SAD oy ty” (saiictey: + i lief fi
Rarity curt ately, elt vba Mana ya peakpc
er fo ui ! att? | itthyn Hd Pro Oey nits at
Bt Das ys ieee ae jie gis 0
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a
1855.| MURCHISON AND MORRIS—THURINGERWALD, ETC. 449
. phical direction of the masses of rock, from their normal alinement of
N.E. & S.W. to one trending from N.W. to 8.E.; the turbulence of
the period being decisively characterized by great outbursts of por-
phyry and the extravasation of vast sheets of porphyritic lava.
It is, indeed, manifest from the convoluted and dislocated condition
of the secondary strata, particularly those of the Muschelkalk, which
lie between the Thiiringerwald and the Harz, as well as from similar
appearances extending even to the older tertiary rocks lying north of
the Harz, or between that ridge and the line ef ancient rocks near
Magdeburg, that each of the elder or flanking masses was an habitual
area of upheaval and oscillation, the upward and downward move-
ments of which compressed the interjacent formations into the pli-
eated forms which they still exhibit.
' In reflecting upon the broad external features only which were
successively impressed on the one tract and on the other, we infer,
that, however the two regions were thrown into nearly parallel direc-
tions, there are in the Thiiringerwald proofs of ancient movements of
which we find no trace in the Harz. In this way we obtain evidence
of the truly Zocal character of all such disruptions, in addition to the
examples previously cited by one of us, and to other cases mentioned
by M. Barrande*.
In truth, whilst each of the tracts here spoken of present some |
marked analogies to the Silurian basin of Bohemia, each of them
differs more from that tract than they do from one another. In their
great fundamental rocks of greenish and talcose grauwacke, the South
Thiringerwald and the district of Prague are alike, as well as in the
chief mass of the Lower Silurian rocks, though the fossils of the
primordial zone of Bohemia have not been found in the Thuringer-
wald, and all the Lower Silurian is wanting in the Harz.
Again, the rich Upper Silurian limestones of Bohemia have no true
representatives in Thuringia,—the uppermost member only of that
division having been detected in the Harz.
Still more striking is the distinction between the two tracts under
consideration and the basin of Bohemia; for whilst the Harz con-
tains all the members of the Devonian rocks, with a copious develop-
ment of the Lower Carboniferous, and whilst the Thtringerwald
differs from 1t in not possessing either the central or the lower De-
vonian bands, there are no evidences of the existence of these forma-
tions in Bohemia, where the Silurian rocks are at once and abruptly
followed by the Upper Coal-fields.
We collate these data to show, that whilst there are breaks in the
Silurian series of Britain,—ew. gr. in one part of S. Wales beneath
the Wenlock Shale, and’ above the Upper Caradoc or May Hill sand-
stone, aud in another below the latter rock,—that in the north of
England the Devonian rocks consist of a mere conglomerate, and that
even one part of the south-west coal field is known to be transgressive
to another,—our country offers no example of that great fracture
between the Jower and upper divisions of the Carboniferous group
which is so very dominant a physical feature throughout Germany
and France.
* See Bull. Soc. Géol. France, vol. xi. p. 311, &e.
A450 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 18,
But, notwithstanding all these differences—whether consisting of
such local dismemberments or varied lithological conditions, the four
natural paleeozoic groups of Russia, Scandinavia, Germany, and France
have been perfectly assimilated, through their organic remains, to their
congeners in Britain ; so that, despite of great breaks in each natural
division of these regions, the classification by Silurian, Devonian, Car-
boniferous, and Permian remains is everywhere maintained.
Lastly, let us recollect, that the very first step which the geologist
takes in ascending from the palzeozoic to the mesozoic formations
must convince him, that great and general mutations of life upon the
surface of the globe were not dependent on such disruptions as those
to which we have alluded; for m Germany no physical dismember-
ment has been observed which separates the strata accumulated at
the close of the Permian rocks from those formed in the earliest
period of the Trias,—the summit of the one being everywhere con-
formable to the base of the other; and yet the change of life which
took place at that period of quiet physical transition was absolute
and complete.
Aprit 18, 1855.
J. G. Blackburn, Esq., and the Rev. W. C. Kendall were elected
Fellows.
The following Communications were read :—
1. Notice of Fosstus from the KruPER SANDSTONE of PENDOCK,
WoRCESTERSHIRE. By the Rev. W. 8. Symonps, F.G.S.
Tue Keuper sandstone quarry from which the fossils here referred
to were obtained is situated in the village of Pendock, about three
miles from the base of the south end of the Malverns, and exactly
opposite the Holly Bush Pass. These sandstones are quarried to the
depth of 14 or 15 feet. They dip under the Upper Red Marls and
Lower Lias of the Berrow Hill, at an angle of from 5° to 6°. Their
position as regards the Bone Bed, at the base of the Lias, cannot be
less than from 250 to 300 feet below that deposit.
The section in the quarry exhibits the following series :—
_e
GT HOINons
Surface soll s..0.0% -
Marl ie, ert Ato
Sandstomey Oo iie. 2.02
Mark ¢b.008 taco 840k Be
Sandstome coal A:
Marl . OS OO ED
Sandstone . A ah 0
Osseous conglomerate. . 0 14 Fish teeth and bones.
Marland thin Sandstone 1 6 Posidonomya.
Thick Sandstone and Pl
Maris). eet: or. on es \ wee
Posidonomya.
Posidonomya.
CcCoOonmnNne
1855.] SYMONDS—PENDOCK. MERIAN—VORARLBERG. 451
Fossils are very abundant, but difficult to work out, the sandstone
being extremely brittle. The suite of fossils now exhibited to the
Society comprise :—1. Two specimens of Posidonomya minuta (re-
taining portions of the shell) from calcareous nodules in the marls
above the conglomerate :—2. Specimens of the osseous conglomerate,
which forms a thin bed, not 2 inches thick, about the middle of the
sandstone series ; and detached portions of the Ichthyodorulites and
other osseous remains, which are abundant im this “ bone-bed’’ :—
3. A series of detached fish-teeth, from the sandstones and the con-
glomerate, some of which have been submitted to Sir P. Egerton,
who believes them to belong to a new species of Acrodus :—4. Seven
specimens of Plant-remains; these are found in the bottom beds at
the quarry, where apparently the sandstone becomes finer and less
gritty and conglomeratic: the sandstone in which these plants are
imbedded contains numerous dispersed particles and patches of car-
bonaceous and coaly matter*. Many plants are also scattered
through the different beds, but are all much more imperfect than
those from the lower bed.
Note on the Plant Remains.—The fossil plants have been kindly
examined by Dr. Hooker and Mr. Bunbury. Dr. Hooker considers
the larger specimen as probably referable to Hquisetites columnaris,
a plant of the Keuper near Wurtemburg, and which was discovered
by Sir Roderick Murchison at Brora; it has also been found abun-
dantly in the Oolites of Yorkshire, but had not been hitherto met
with in the Keuper Sandstone of England. The smaller specimens
Dr. Hooker refers doubtfully to Calamites arenaceus, a plant of the
Keuper in Germany, and which is scarcely distinguishable from
various fossils of the same and other formations; its botanical cha-
racters being vague and unsatisfactory. Considering how imperfect
our knowledge is of either of the above genera, and that several fossils
referred to Calamites have been supposed, with much probability, to
be merely the casts of hollow stems, or piths of plants, Dr. Hooker
suggests that no reliance should be placed in these approximate identi-
fications, and adds that it is quite possible to conceive that Calamites
and Hquisetites are parts cf one and the same plant.
Mr. Bunbury refers all the specimens to Calamites arenaceus ;
and rightly observes that the larger specimen presents none of the
characteristics of Hquisetites columnaris: this, however, Dr. Hooker
is rather inclined to attribute to the imperfection of the specimen.
2. On the St. Casstan Bens between the Keurer and the Lias
in the VORARLBERG ALps. By Prof. Mertian.
[Extract of Letter to Sir R. I. Murchison, V.P.G.S.]
I nave lately visited, with my friend Escher von der Linth, the Alps
of the Vorarlberg, and the neighbourhood of the Lake of Lugano and
the Lake of Como. In the Vorarlberg we found immediately under
* [The specimens of this coaly matter which have been examined under the
microscope do not offer any traces of organic structure.—Ep. }
452 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [Apr. 18,
the Lias, which is well developed, the beds of the Dachstein Lime-
stone, characterized by numerous Corals and a large bivalve (Mega-
lodon scutatus of Schafhautl, ‘‘ Dachstein bivalve” of the Austrians).
Below the Dachstein limestone are the Gervillia-beds (lately called
Koéssen-beds by Von Hauer). The Cardita crenata, Goldf., the Avi-
cule of the family of the Grypheata@, and small turrited univalves,
contained in these beds, induced me to refer them to some of the
St. Cassian beds. Lower still are thickly developed masses of dolo-
mite, under which sandstones with impressions of Keuper plants
occur.
The exact relation of the Salzburg beds containmg Ammonites
globosus with the Gervillia-beds has not yet been made out. We
have not hitherto been able to find in the Alps of the Vorarlberg this
characteristic family of Ammonites.
In the vicinity of the Lake of Como, the dolomitic masses change
their appearance ; but beneath the has the Gervillia-beds form a good
geological horizon, which can be found m numerous places when
once one has become accustomed to its position. This bed is also
found under the Lias of the chain of the Stockhorn, Canton Berne ;
and Escher has found it in the neighbourhood of Geneva.
We have called the whole of the beds situated between the Lias
and the Keuper, “ S¢. Casciano formation.’ It isa marine formation,
which appears to be wanting in the North of Europe, and which is
only developed in the South, commencing with the chain of the Alps,
and in Eastern Europe. In a paleontological point of view, it is
distinguished from the overlying Lias by the absence of Belemnites,
and from the Trias, on which it lies, by the existence of Ammonites
with foliated septa.
You know that the Austrian geologists formerly considered the
*Dachstein Limestone”? as Lower Muschelkalk. Von Buch and
his successors thought that the Gervillia-beds should be placed on a
parallel with the Brown Jura. It is easy to perceive how such sup-
positions must have obscured the geology of the Western Alps; but
this has become much clearer since the true position of the different
beds has been better established.
The Austrian geologists are now of the same opinion as ourselves
respecting the true position of the Dachstein Limestone and of the
Gervillia-beds (their Kossen-beds). They connect them nevertheless
with the Lower Lias, and they consider the beds with Ammonites glo-
bosus at Salzburg, and those of St. Cassian, as a separate formation,
which they call Upper Muschelkalk. This is a questionable point,
which will be decided, I hope, as soon as we get more positive data
respecting the position of the Ammonites globosus of Salzburg, a time
which is not far distant.
It appears that the true Muschelkalk is wanting along the whole
northern slope of the Western Alps; it reappears to the south. Be-
sides the localities already known, Escher has discovered several
others. I have lately received from Messrs. Lavizzaci and Stabile at
Lugano a considerable number of fossils found in the well-known
dolomite of the chain of Monte Salvadore, near Lugano, which most
1855. | GARDEN—-SOUTH AFRICA. 453
clearly prove it to be Muschelkalk. It appears that the Keuperin
the neighbourhood of the Lakes of Lugano and Como is also in the
state of dolomite, which renders it difficult to separate it from the
dolomites which underlie the Muschelkalk ; the Lower Lias is well
developed at Arzo, Saltzio, and at Monte Generoso near Mendrisio,
and on the shores of the Lake of Como. Then follow, forming an
extensive horizon, the beds of the Calcareo ammonitifero rosso, of
Erba, &c., which evidently belong to the Ltage Toarcien of D’ Orbigny,
and which can be traced over a considerable portion of Italy.
Basle, April 9, 1854.
[Note.—Compare Escher von der Linth “on the Vorarlberg,”
Mém. Soc. Helv. vol. xiii.; and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 42.
Miscell. pp. 16, &c. ; Suess “on the Vorarlberg,” and “on the Kossen
Brachiopods,” 7bid. No. 43. Miscell. p. 25, &c.; and Von Hauer
“on the Trias, Lias, and Jura of the Eastern Alps,” Jarhb. K. K.
Geol. Reichsanst. 1853, pp. 715, &c.; and the Anniversary Address,
1855, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 42. pp. lxin, &e.—Ep. |
3. Notice of some Cretaceous Rocks near Nata, SouTH AFRICA.
By R. J. Garprn, Esq., late Capt. H.M. 45th Reg.
[Communicated by R. Godwin-Austen, Esq., F.G.S.]
[ Abstract. ]
THE discovery of these fossiliferous rocks, near the Umtafuna* (on
some maps spelt ‘‘ Umtavooma’’) River, on the coast of South Africa,
was made by Mr. H. F. Fynn, in 1824. About three miles to the
southward of the river commence certain excavations in the cliffs,
formed by the action of the sea, and called by the natives “ Izinhlu-
zabalunguy.” ‘These caves extend for about 800 yards. In 1851
Capt. Garden visited the spot with Mr. Fynn, and, with the aid of
his servant (the late Private Thomas Souton), and the natives,
collected a suite of fossilst from the walls of the caves and from
the adjoiming cliffs. The cliffs vary considerably in height, and
their tops are covered with vegetation ; the Strelitzia alba grows
abundantly in the hollows. The lowest rock visible is a hard shelly
rock with pebbles; above it is a brownish-red sandstone, traversed
in every direction with white veins, which are the broken edges of
colossal bivalve shells (Inoceramus). These shells are thin, and too
easily broken to be extracted from the rock ; the corrugated surface
of a portion of one was exposed to the extent of 2 feet in length by
1 foot in breadth, and the author estimated others to be nearly
3 feet in length. This shell is common to all the strata in the cliff.
Alternate layers of the above-mentioned two rocks occur to the
height of about 18 feet; above which are hard bluish-black, brown,
* Pronounced Oom-ta-fu-na.
t+ Pronounced Izinthlu-zabalangu: ‘ the houses of the white men;” so called
probably from the caverns having once been occupied by shipwrecked sailors.
{ These fossils are described by Mr. Baily in the next following communication.
454 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Apr. 18,
and greenish argillaceous and sandy beds. Shells were found in all
these clay-beds, and Ammonites at different heights and in certain
of the strata. Many fossils are exposed on the cliffs, and washed
out on to the shore by the action of the sea.
Fossil trees are seen at low water on a reef of flat rocks near these
caverns ; and about three miles to the southward Capt. Garden found
at the extreme point of the left bank of the Umpahlanyani* stream
a piece of fossil wood, imbedded in a rock similar to that at the
caves.
About half a mile beyond the caves runs the Umzambanit River,
across which the cretaceous rocks are continued, appearing on its
right bank ; after which they are lost sight of, except at a few places:
the author, however, believes this formation to extend as far as the
Umtata River, having been informed by the late Mr. W. H. D. Fynn
that fossil Turtle remains were to be procured from the rocks at the
mouth of that river.
4. Description of some CRETACEOUS Fossits from SoutH AFRICA;
collected by Capt. GARDEN, of the 45th Regiment. By Wiii1aM
H. Baty, Esq., of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
[Communicated by R. Godwin-Austen, Esq., F.G.S.]
[Puates XI. XII. XIII.]
Tue late Professor Edward Forbes having entrusted to my examina-
tion the interesting series of fossils collected on the coast of South
Africa, near Natal, and brought to England by Capt. Gardenf, to
whose exertions and liberality we are indebted for this valuable addi-
tion to the Colonial Department of the Museum of Practical Geology,
the following communication has been drawn up on the plan of Prof.
Forbes’s able ‘Report on the Fossil Invertebrata from Southern
India§,’’ to which collection of fossils the series here described bears
a close affinity, as also to the fossils from the greensand of Black-
down in our own country, and the Craze Chloritée of France.
CEPHALOPODA.
Genus AMmonires, Auctorum.
There are four species of Ammonites in this collection ; the speci-
mens generally are in fine preservation, and of remarkable size and
beauty, some of them having portions of the shell still adhering.
All are allied to Cretaceous forms, and belong to the following
groups :—
* Pronounced Oom-pa-thlan-ya-ni.
+ Pronounced Oom-zam-ba-ni.
~ See above, p. 453. This collection was briefly noticed in the Rep. Brit.
Assoc. 1854, Transact. Sect. p. 83.
§ Transactions Geol. Soc., 2nd Series, vol. vii.
1855. ] BAILY—SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS. 455
1. Cristati, D’Orbigny ; a group of which all the species are cre-
taceous. To this section Ammonites Soutoni and A. Stangert
may be referred.
2. Clypeiformes, D’Orbigny ; lower cretaceous and oolitic. dm-
monites Umbulazi appears to belong to this group.
3. Levigati, a section established by Prof. Forbes for a Pondi-
cherry cretaceous form, and in which Ammonites Gardent
may now be included.
Number of specimens of each species m this collection :—
Ammonites Soutonii .... 2 Ammonites Gardeni .... 3
CS Stanger’... 4 2 Umbulazi.... 2
Cristati.
1. Ammonites SoutTontt, nov. sp. Pl. XI. fig. 1.
A. testa discoidea carinat’é; anfractibus 5; costis numerosis flexuosis,
internis acuté tuberculatis; dorso utrinque tuberculato, medio
carinato ; umbilico mediocri ; apertura ovato-elliptica.
Diameter, 1 foot 53 imches.
Diameter of disk formed by the inner whorls, 7 inches.
Length of aperture, 6 inches.
Breadth of aperture, 45 inches.
Shell discoidal; whorls 5, with numerous flexuous ‘ribs, each of
which bears a small tubercle on the edge of the umbilicus, and two
broader ones at its termination on the back ; umbilicus small ; inner
whorls partly concealed, flattened, with prominent tubercles upon
the centre of the numerous ribs; back somewhat round, with a
distinct keel, and a row of lengthened tubercles on each side. Aper-
ture ovate and elliptical.
This very large and magnificent Ammonite, which is in fine pre-
servation, with portions of the shell a quarter of an inch in thickness
still attached, is somewhat distantly related to Ammonites rostratus
and dA. varians from the Lower Chalk.
It is dedicated to the memory of the late private Thomas Souton,
of the Grenadier Company, 45th Regiment, who, whilst acting as
Capt. Garden’s servant, zealously extracted it, after much perse-
verance and labour, from a very hard stratum high up the cliff.
Locality.—Chitfs of the coast of S. Africa, near the Umtafuna
and Umzambani Rivers.
2. AMMONITES STANGERI, nov. sp. Pl. XI. fig. 2.
A. testa discoidea, carinata; anfractibus 6, angustatis ; costis nume-
rosis tuberculatis, internis bifurcatis ; dorso utrinque tuberculato,
medio carinato; apertura ovato-elliptica.
Diameter, 1 foot.
Diameter of disk formed by inner whorls, 8 inches.
Length of aperture, 33 inches.
Breadth of aperture, 2,5 inches.
456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Apr. 18,
Shell discoidal ; whorls 6, narrow and rounded; ribs numerous,
and divided into regularly arranged rather indistinct tubercles ; some
of the interior ribs are bifurcated ; back narrow and keeled, with a
row of lengthened tubercles on each side; aperture ovate.
The characters of this fine large Ammonite somewhat approach
that of the last species, although the form is very distinct, bemg
more wheel-shaped and compressed.
Named in memory of the late Dr. Stanger, of the Niger Expedi-
tion, and Surveyor-General of Natal, whose recent death in South
Africa, and consequent loss to science of so able an investigator, we
have to deplore.
Locality.—Cliffs of the South African coast, near the Umtafuna
and Umzambani Rivers.
Clypeiformes.
3. AMMONITES UmBULAZI, nov. sp. Pl. XI. fig. 4.
A. testa compressd, carinaté; anfractibus compressis, radiis latis
flexuosis ; angustissimé umbilicata ; dorso acuto, angulato ; aper-
tura sagittata.
Diameter, 1 inch ,4,ths.
Diameter of inner whorls, ;4ths of an inch.
Length of aperture, 58>ths of an inch.
Breadth of aperture, ;4,ths of an inch.
Shell compressed, keeled ; whorls compressed, with obtuse flexu-
ous radiations ; inner whorls partly concealed ; umbilicus very small ;
back sharp, keeled, and angular, or bevelled off on each side ; aper-
ture lanceolate.
This small compressed Ammonite has part of the shell still ad-
hering, and appears to be nearly related to Ammonites Requienianus,
D’Orb., from the Craie Chloritée.
The specific appellation of this Ammonite is the native name of
Mr. H. F. Fynn, who is mentioned in Capt. Garden’s paper as the
discoverer of these Cretaceous deposits, and as his companion on his
visit to these cliffs.
Locality.—Cliffs of the South African coast, near the Umtafuna
and Umzambani Rivers.
Levigati.
4. AMMONITES GARDENI, nov. sp. Pl. XI. fig. 3.
A. testa compressa, discoidea, leevigata ; anfractibus 6, complanatis,
ad umbilicum abruptis; laté umbilicata; dorso carmato; carina
simplice filiformi; lateribus sulcatis; apertura oblonga, compressa.
Diameter, 5 inches.
Diameter of inner whorls, 24 inches.
Breadth of outer whorl, 14 inch; thickness, ;%,ths of an inch.
Breadth of outer whorl of larger fragment, 2 inches ; thickness,
1 inch ,2,ths.
1855. BAILY—SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS. 457
Shell compressed, nearly circular, smooth, with 6 whorls, flattened,
rounded towards the keel, abruptly and perpendicularly depressed at
its umbilical margin; umbilicus wide; back keeled; the sides ob-
liquely and faintly striated ; aperture oblong, compressed.
This characteristic Ammonite (named after the discoverer) belongs
to the section Levigati, established by Prof. E. Forbes, and is nearly
related to Ammonites Rembda from Pondicherry. The prismatic
colours of the nacre are still preserved.
Locality.—‘‘ White-men’s Houses,” coast of S. Africa, near the
Umzambani River, in compact siliceous grit containmg numerous
fossils, and in soft greenish sandstone.
Genus Bacutites, Lamarck.
Of this characteristic cretaceous genus there are three specimens,
of, I believe, one species only, associated with a furrowed Poromya
in a soft greenish sandstone.
BaAcULITES SULCATUS, nov. sp. Pl. XI. fig. 5.
B. testa ovata, subcompressa, leevi vel transversim undulata; dorso
leviter compresso; ventre crassiore, obtuso; apertura obliqua,
sinuata ; septis lobatis.
Length of the most entire specimen, 2 inches.
Greatest breadth, *4ths of an inch.
» 10
Thickness, 24 ths of an inch.
Shell elongate, ovate in section, rather flattened, broadest at the
aperture, and slightly tapering ; with smooth transverse undulations,
strongly marked near the aperture, and gradually becoming lost
towards the lower extremity ; back slightly compressed, ventral side
rounded ; aperture very oblique ; septa lobed.
This species appears to be distinct from, although closely allied to,
the Baculites anceps, figured by D’Orbigny from the Crate Chloritée,
-and differs from it in the greater rotundity of the dorsal side, and
greater angularity of the transverse undulations, the section exhibit-
ing a form more nearly approaching that of Baculites Faujasii from
the Chalk of Ireland.
The shell is partly preserved, showing its prismatic colours.
Locality.—Cliffs of the coast of S. Africa, near the Umtafuna and
Umzambani Rivers.
GASTEROPODA.
Genus SoLtartum, Lamarck.
SOLARIUM PULCHELLUM, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 3.
S. testa discoidea, spira parva, anfractibus 5, rotundatis, longitudi-
naliter transversimque striatis ; umbilico parvo, externé crenulato ;
apertura rotundata.
Diameter, ;3,ths of an inch.
458 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 18,
Shell discoidal; spire small; whorls 5, rounded, transversely
striated, and partially reticulated by encircling lines. The tranverse
striations are strongest at the upper part of the whorls next the
suture, and form crenulations at the umbilicus, which is small;
mouth round.
This beautiful little Solarium appears to be not uncommon in this
deposit, three very perfect specimens having been extracted from
one small piece of the soft greenish sandstone in which they are
imbedded.
Locality.— Cliffs of the coast of S. Africa, near the Umtafuna and
Umzambani Rivers.
Genus TURRITELLA, Lamarck.
TURRITELLA Bonet, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 7.
T. testa conicd; anfractibus 12, convexis, transversé 3-costatis ;
costis simplicibus; suturis profundis; apertura subquadrata ;
basi convexo.
Length, 2 inches.
Breadth of last whorl, ;°,ths of an inch.
Shell moderately elongated, tapering, with about 12 rather ventri-
cose whorls, divided by a deep suture. The whorls have three large
ridges, not granulated, and are numerously striated spirally ; the base
is convex, and the aperture round.
It is allied to Turritella difficilis of D’Orbigny, from the Crate
Chloritée of France, but differs in having fewer ribs, and in being
striated in the interspaces; it also bears a considerable resemblance
to Turritella monilifera from Pondicherry.
Named after Mr. C. Bone of the Geological Survey.
Locality.— Cliffs of the coast of South Africa, near the Umtafuna
and Umzambani Rivers.
TuRRITELLA Meant1, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 6.
T. testa conica; anfractibus 12, transversim inzequaliter striatis,
longitudinaliter plicatis ; plicis flexuosis ; suturis profundis ; aper-
tura ovali.
Length, ;4,ths of an inch.
Breadth of last whorl, ,2,ths of an inch.
Shell conical; whorls 12, unequally and faintly striated by trans-
verse and longitudinal flexuous plications ; aperture oval.
Found associated with Ammonites Umbulazi in compact siliceous
grit.
Named after Mr. Mead of the Geological Survey.
Locality.—‘* White-men’s Houses,” near the Umzambani River,
S. Africa.
TURRITELLA ReENAvUxIANA, D’Orbigny, Ter. Crét. pl. 152. figs. 1-4.
A much-worn specimen from Umpahlanayani River, included in
1855. | - BAILY—SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS. 459
this collection, appears to be identical with the peculiarly formed
shell described by D’Orbigny under the above name from the Craze
Chloritée of France.
Genus ScaLariA, Lamarck.
SCALARIA ORNATA, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 2.
S. testa turrita, imperforata ; anfractibus 9, longitudinaliter costatis
(costis in ultimo anfractu 16) ; interstitiis striatis ; ultimo anfractu
anticé carinato ; apertura suborbiculari.
Length, 2 inches.
Breadth of last whorl, ths of an inch.
27 10
Shell conical, not umbilicated ; whorls about 9, which are crossed
by 16 equal elevated continuous ribs; the whorls are closely striated
transversely, and decussated with very fine lines of growth, forming
a terminal edge upon each rib; aperture suborbicular.
This beautiful species is closely allied to Scalaria Dupiniana,
D’Orbigny, but has a greater number of ribs, and is more finely
striated transversely.
Locality.—Cliffs of the coast near the Umtafuna and Umzambani
Rivers, 8S. Africa.
Genus Cuemnitzia, D’Orbigny.
CHEMNITZIA SUTHERLANDII, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 5.
C. testa turrita; anfractibus 10, convexis, longitudinaliter plicatis ;
plicis flexuosis ; apertura elongata, ovata.
Length, 3 inches ,8,ths.
Breadth. of last whorl, 1 inch 51,th.
Shell turreted, elongated; whorls 10, convex, with longitudinal
incurved plications ; aperture elongated and ovate.
Named after Dr. P. C. Sutherland, late Surgeon to the Arctic
Expedition, and now in Natal, to whose valuable researches science
is greatly indebted.
Locality.—Cliffs of the S. African coast near the Umtafuna and
Umzambani Rivers.
Genus Vouuta, Linnzus.
VoLUTA RIGIDA, nov. sp. _ Pl. XII. fig. 4.
V. testa oblonga; spira conica ; anfractibus superné angulatis, longi-
tudinaliter costatis ; costis im angulis turgidis, et prope suturam
subobsoletis, spiraliter sulcatis ; apertura angulata, elongata.
Length of broken specimen, 1 inch ;5ths; probable entire
length, 1 inch 5,ths.
Breadth 4ths of an inch.
Shell somewhat cone-shaped, with about 18 longitudinal ribs ;
coarsely striated spirally. The summit of the whorls is formed at
the suture into a rim with slight continuations of the longitudinal
VOL. XI.—PART I. 21
460 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETy. [Apr. 18,
costee and strize of growth. The plications of the columella are not
exposed.
This species is nearly related to Voluta cincta, Sowerby, from
Pondicherry.
Locality.—Cliffs of the coast near the Umtafuna and Umzambani
Rivers, S. Africa.
Genus Natica, Lamarck.
NATICA MULTISTRIATA, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 8.
N. testa subconicé; spira elata; anfractibus 5, convexis, transver-
sim striatis; apertura obliqué ovata.
Length, ;§>ths of an inch.
Breadth, “ieths of an inch.
Shell subconical; spire elevated; whorls 5, rounded, with nume-
rous transverse striations ; mouth obliquely ovate.
This form is nearly related to Natica pagoda, from Pondicherry.
Locality.—Cliffs of the coast of 8. Africa, near the Umtafuna
and Umzambani Rivers.
Several small Gasteropoda, which have been obtained in clearing
out the larger fossils, appear to belong to the genera Trochus,
Phasianella, and Natica. They are mostly too obscure, however,
for specific determination.
LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
Genus Carpivum, Linnezeus.
CARDIUM DENTICULATUM, nov. sp. PI. XIII. fig. 4.
C. testa suborbiculaté, convexa, anticé rotundata, posticé truncata ;
transversim costatis, costis 34, elevatis, imbricatis, et denticulatis ;
interstitiis concentricé striatis.
Length, ;6ths of an inch.
Breadth, “ths of an inch.
Shell suborbicular, convex, anterior side rounded, posterior trun-
cated ; ribs about 34, angular, and elevated, with scale-like markings
and concentric strize between; posterior margin deeply indented by
the sharp ribs.
This small Cardium, which is beautifully preserved, is very unlike
any other known fossil species, the deeply serrated posterior margin
distinguishing it from all others, and giving it a greater resemblance
to living forms. ,
Locality.—Cliffs on 8. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
Genus Arca, Linnzeus.
Arca UMZAMBANIENSIS, nov. sp. Pl. XIII. fig. 1.
A. testa inflata, gibba, obliqué trigona, abrupté truncata, fortiter
1855. | BAILY—SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS. 461
carinata, carina elevata, longitudinaliter concentricéque striata ;
umbonibus approximatis ; area ligamenti angustata.
Length, 2 inches ;3,ths.
Breadth, 2 inches 2,ths.
Shell gibbous, obliquely triangular, very abruptly truncate and
carinate. The keel is elevated, and is the highest part of the shell ;
umbos approximating ; hinge-area narrow.
The two valves of this fine large Adrca, which are still united,
have a reticulated appearance, caused by the radiating lines being
crossed by transverse furrows of growth.
It is allied to Arca fibrosa, from the Greensand of Blackdown ; also
to A. Trinchinopolitensis, Forbes.
Locality.—Cliffs on S. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
Arca NaTAtensis, nov. sp. Pl. XIII. fig. 2.
A. testa subinflata, carinata, transversé ovata, anticé obliqué truncata,
angulata, posticé rotundata; lateribus striatis, in medio sulcato-
striatis ; area cardinali lata, 4-striataé ; umbonibus distantibus.
Length, 1 inch ;4,ths.
Breadth, 1 inch ,,th.
Shell somewhat inflated, carinated, transversely ovate ; anterior
side obliquely truncated, and angular; longitudinally sulcated ; car-
dinal area large, with four striations ; umbos distant.
This description is founded on a single valve, in beautiful pre-
servation, and showing the interior and hinge-area. The strongly
ridged exterior and difference of form sufficiently distinguish it from
the last species. It closely resembles 4. yapetica, from Pondicherry.
There is also another species of Arca, too imperfect to determine.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
Genus Triconta, Bruguiére.
TRIGONIA ELEGANS, nov. sp. Pl. XIII. fig. 3.
T. testa ovato-trigona, anticé rotundata, posticé producti et rostrata ;
costis arcuatis, oblique crenulato-rugosis, umbonibus obtusis sub-
_recurvis ; area longitudinaliter sulcata, transversim costata ; carinis
marginali et interna depressis.
Length 58,ths of an inch.
Breadth ths of an inch.
Shell ovately trigonal, moderately convex; anterior extremity
rounded ; posterior extremity produced and rostrated; mbs some-
what arched and crenulated obliquely; umbos obtuse, slightly
recurved ; area longitudinally sulcated and transversely striated ;
striations of inner carina less numerous and more distinct; carina
depressed.
pd) er
462 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETY. [Apr. 18,
This small Trigonia, in very perfect condition, both valves being
united and the ligament preserved, is distantly related to Trigonia
crenularis, Lamarck, figured by D’Orbigny, from the Craie Chloritée.
Locality.—Cliffs on coast of S. Africa, near the Umtafuna and
Umzambani Rivers.
Fragments of another species of Trigonia accompany this with
large tubercles like Trigonia rudis.
Genus INocERAMUS, Parkinson.
INOCERAMUS EXPANSUS, nov. sp. Pl. XIII. fig. 5.
I. testa ovato-obliqua, subdepressa, subzequivalvi, concentricé plicata;
margine cardinali elongato.
Length of fragment 53 inches.
Shell ovate, oblique, rather depressed, subzequivalve, with concen-
trically prominent plications ; hinge-margin elongated.
Several fragments were procured, showing the lengthened hinge
and great dilatation of this species *. ne specimen has the valves
united. They are from soft greenish sandstone and hard siliceous
conglomerate, containimg numerous fragments of broken shells. It
approaches slightly the Inoceramus latus of the Lower Chalk and
Upper Greensand.
_ Locality.—Cliffs on coast of 8. Africa, near the Umtafuna and
Umzambani Rivers.
Genus PecTen, Bruguiére.
PECTEN QUINQUECOsTATUS, Sowerby.—A small but perfect
specimen, associated with the Inoceramus, is identical with the Upper
Greensand species from Warminster.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umzambani River.
PeEcTEN, sp.; allied to P. wrgatus, Nilsson. A fragment too im-
perfect for description ; found associated with the Voluta.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umzambani River.
Genus OstrzA, Linn. There are two small species of Ostrea,
one of them attached to Inoceramus, too imperfect to determine.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umzambani River.
Genus TEREDINA, Lamarck. A large mass of the tubes formed
by this shell in fossil wood, much weathered, with indistinct traces of
the valves, undistinguishable from the London clay species.
Locality.—‘* White Men’s Houses,”’ near the Umzambani River.
A group of smaller tubes from the same locality exactly resembles
Teredo antenaute of the London clay ; probably they are formed by
younger specimens of the first-mentioned species.
* See also above, p. 453.
-1855.] BAILY—SOUTH AFRICAN FOSSILS. 463
Small bivalve shells of what appear to be the following genera,
but too indistinct to determine specifically, were also included in this
collection :—
Corsuta; like C. carinata, D’Orb.
Poromya?; furrowed form.
Lucia; like LZ. caperata, from Blackdown.
PECTUNCULUS.
CaRDIUM.
Lucina, Nucuxa, AstarTe, and SoLEcuRTUS?
ECHINODERMATA.
Genus HemiasteEr, Desor.
HeMiIaster Forsestt, nov. sp. Pl. XII. fig. 1.
This, the only Echinoderm in the collection, is deprived of nearly
all trace of its test; some fragments, however, accompany it with the
tubercles and pores well preserved.
The contour is broadly cordate, with the greatest elevation poste-
riorly, and slightly declining anteriorly. The dorsal ambulacra are
widely petaloid, very unequal, and all lodged in deep excavations.
The antero-lateral ones are 13 time as long as the postero-laterals.
The latter are broadly ovate and have about 20 pairs of pores in each
row. ‘The antero-laterals are oblong ovate, and have about 30 pairs
of pores in each series, lodged in rather broad transverse grooves.
The hollowed-out portion of the odd ambulacrum is very broad and
extends round to the mouth. The elevated spaces between the petals
are narrow, and as if pinched up. The sides are very prominent ;
the caudal extremity is obtuse; the vent is obscured. The mouth is
transversely oval. A fragment of the shell of another specimen of
this species, from between the anterior and posterior ambulacra, is
covered with slightly scattered small equal tubercles, the interspaces
being granulated. The specimen is not sufficiently perfect to distin-
guish its fasciole.
Length 1 inch ;5th. Breadth 1 inch ~;ths.
Dedicated to the late Professor Edward Forbes, who has added so
much to our knowledge of this class of animals, both recent and
fossil, and by whose much-lamented death science has lost one of ber
most able advocates.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
PISCES.
Placoid Order. Squaloid Family.
Corax. Represented by a tooth, nearly allied to C. incisus,
Egerton *, from Pondicherry.
Locality.—Cliffs of S. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
* Trans. Geol. Soc. 2 ser. vol. vii. p. 92.
464 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Apr. 18,
REPTILIA.
The fragments of Reptilian bones comprised in Capt. Garden’s
collection, eight in number, were submitted to Professor Owen, who
kindly determined such as were sufficiently perfect. He considers
them to be all Chelonian, and described them as follows :—
1 and 2. Portions of a rib, with carinated costal plate, of a flat-
formed Chelonian.
3. Apparently the coracoid of a Chelonian: and two others ; por-
tions of Chelonian bones.
Locality.—Cliffs of 8. African coast, near the Umtafuna and Um-
zambani Rivers.
Inferences drawn from a Study of the Species.
The total number of species of Mollusca in this Collection are
35, viz. :—
Cephalopoda ........ b
Gasteropoda ........ 11 p species.
Lamellibranchiata.... 19 J .
Of these, 30 are hitherto undescribed forms, and related or having
a close affinity with Cretaceous species ; the only apparent exceptions
being that of the Voluta, a genus characteristic of the Tertiaries of
our own country (but as Professor Forbes states in his Report on the
Indian fossils, to which this collection bears a considerable resem-
blance, ‘‘ having representatives, and those not peculiar forms, as low
down as the Upper Greensand in Europe, and occurring also in Cre-
taceous strata in North America’’); and the Teredo, which is un-
distinguishable from the London Clay species.
There is but one species, however, which can be positively identified
with English fossils, and that is Pecten quinquecostatus, one of the
most characteristic of cretaceous species.
Of the Gasteropoda, the Scalaria is closely related to a cretaceous
species found in the Gault of Folkestone and Greensand of Black-
down; one of the species of Turritella is also allied to a cretaceous
form from France ; another, but very imperfect specimen, appears
to be identical with Turritella Renauaxiana, described by D’Orbigny
from the Crate Chloritée.
The genera of Bivalves in this collection are all known in cretaceous
or older strata; the peculiar forms of Arca, Trigonia, Corbula,
Poromya, Lucina, Astarte, Nucula, Inoceramus, and Pecten being
also characteristically cretaceous.
There is but one species of Echinoderm; and this is a charac-
teristic cretaceous form of the genus Hemiaster.
There appears, therefore, from the evidence adduced, no difficulty
in believing that the beds from which these fossils were obtained, are
** cretaceous,’’ and probably paleontologically equivalent to the
Upper Greensand of this country and Craie Chloritée of France.
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1855. | SUTHERLAND—NATAL. 465
EXPLANATION OF PLATES XI., XII., XIII.
Puate XI.
Fig. 1. Ammonites Soutonii: a, front view of whorls; 2, back view reduced to
one-fourth of natural size; ¢, septal suture, half-natural size.
Fig. 2. Ammonites Stangeri: a, front view of whorls; 4, back view, reduced to
one-fourth of natural size; c, septal suture, natural size.
Fig. 3. Ammonites Gardeni: a, front view of inner whorls; 3, back view,
natural size; c, septal suture, enlarged 2 diameters.
Fig. 4. Ammonites Umbulazi: a, front view of whorls; 4, back view, natural
size; ¢, septal suture, enlarged 3 diameters.
Fig. 5. Baculites sulcatus: a, front view; 0, section of one of the chambers;
ce, back view of another specimen with deeper sulcations.
Puate XII.
Fig. 1. Hemiaster Forbesii: a, upper surface; 4, under surface; c, portion of
upper surface with ambulacra, perforated tubercles, and encircling
: granules, magnified.
Fig. 2. Scalaria ornata: a, natural size; 3, portion of surface, magnified.
Fig. 3. Solarium pulchellum: a, side view, natural size; 3, upper view of
whorls enlarged 5 diameters.
Fig. 4. Voluta rigida; natural size.
Fig. 5. Chemnitzia Sutherlandii; natural size.
Fig. 6. Turritella Meadii: a, natural size; 4, enlarged 3 diameters.
Fig. 7. Turritella Bonei: a, natural size; 4, portion of surface magnified.
Fig. 8. Natica multistriata: a, natural size; 4, portion of the surface magnified.
Puate XIII.
Fig. 1. Arca Umzambaniensis ; natural size.
Fig. 2. Arca Natalensis: a, outer view of single valve; 3, inner view of the
same; natural size.
Fig. 3. Trigonia elegans: a, front view; 0, hinge view; natural size.
Fig. 4. Cardium denticulatum: a, natural size; 4, enlarged 3 diameters.
Fig. 5. Inoceramus expansus: hinge portion of shell, reduced one-third.
5. Notes on the Groxtocy of Natat, Soutn AFRICA.
By Dr. P. C. SurHerzanp.
[In Letters * to Sir R. I. Murchison, V.P.G.S.]
Tue sea-coast of Natal, to a distance of twenty to thirty miles inland,
appears to be composed of beds of sandstone and shale alternating
with trap-rock, the former containing thin layers of woody coal and
very faint vegetable impressions. These beds of trap and sedimentary
matter are not individually of great extent. Six of each sometimes
occur in a linear space of a quarter of a mile.
The best specimens of the coal yet found are only slightly bitu-
minous ; and much is of very inferior character. ‘The thickness of
the seams varies from a mere film up to about 24 to 3 feet. Where
the best coal exists, three seams crop out in a space of 20 feet ; the
aggregate thickness of which is upwards of 4 feet. From ‘the
manner in which they run into each other, thin out, again thicken,
* Dated D’Urban, March 13, 1854; and Natal, Nov. 3, 1854.
466 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society, [Apr. 18,
and are separated by lenticular deposits of arenaceous shale and grit,
I have hopes, by following them, we may find them passing per-
manently into one or more thick beds. The distance, however, of
this locality from a sea-port (200 miles) is such, that the value of
the coal will not repay the expense of working and carriage. It is
of importance, however, for use in the Colony [Natal], and since it
began to be wrought the imports of coal into Natal have ceased.
Judging from the cursory examination I have been able to make
of the impressions of leaves and stems contained in the shale, they
resemble the Oolitic flora more than that of the true Coal-formation.
Bones, apparently of a Saurian*, are imbedded in a highly calca-
reous rock which crops out above the coal-strata, and are associated
with the vegetable impressions which characterize the latter.
The arenaceous shale is frequently found beautifully ripple-marked,
and that too within half a foot, in the descending series, beneath the
coal.
The crystalline rocks, cropping out in a line nearly parallel with
the direction of the sea-coast, are infrmged upon by beds of coarse
sandstone, which occasionally show symptoms of disturbance from
extensive beds of a species of trachyte containimg fragments of the
crystalline rocks on which the less disturbed sandstone strata rest.
At first I had considerable doubt about the true character of the
trachytic rock, but they were removed by finding the sandstone beds
scored and grooved where the superincumbent erupted matter had
passed over them in a state of semi-fusion. This condition of semi-
fusion must have conduced to the mechanical suspension of the gra-
nitic fragments. Where the grooves and scratches were observed,
the inclination of the strata is 1°17'. Removal of the erupted matter
by the denuding agency of the weather reveals the grooved surface
of the stratified rock, which has been rendered the more enduring
by contact with the former. On the coast and inland sides of these
beds, extensive strata of shales and sandstone alternate with irregular
beds of greenstone, which frequently crop out as basaltic cliffs.
Dykes of the same material traverse the strata in all directions.
The metamorphic strata of the district frequently show extensive
contorted lamin of quartz, which undergo disintegration under
atmospheric influences, but gold does not appear to have been yet
found in connexion with them.
Undulating table-lands of considerable extent are not uncommon
at a height of 5000 feet in this district, and many such are composed
of a bed of greenstone at the top, resting on beds of shale and sand-
stone, the latter being traversed by dykes of the volcanic rock.
These table-hills occur about twenty or thirty miles from the coast,
and are several miles in extent. Some of these rise precipitously
above level plains of equal extent.
A huge dyke of granite runs from N.E. to S.W. in a somewhat
* [The author thinks this to be [chthyosaurus, but perhaps it is Dicynodon, as
these strata appear to be continuous with those described by Mr. Bain.—Ep. ]
1855. | SUTHERLAND—NATAL. 467
tortuous course, and is flanked on both sides by the table-hills, which,
curious as it may appear, are at a higher elevation above the sea.
The Table-hills are composed of a rudely stratified sandstone, with-
out fossils, and containing rounded pebbles of gneiss, quartz, clay-
slate, and other metamorphic rocks. The granite is very rough-
grained, almost porphyritic, and in some instances large masses are
seen protruding through, and resting in, beds of the same material,
which has undergone some peculiar decomposing process. As we
advance inland, the beds of sandstone and shale are of much greater
thickness than on the coast. In one or two instances beds of basalt
have been cut through to a depth of nearly 300 feet by the river.
Such deep beds give rise to a somewhat terrace-like character in the
contour of the country, from the protrusion of the granite to the
Draakensberg Range.
The sea-coast is in some places fringed with reefs of the dark
basaltic rocks. In other parts large dunes of sand, containing sea-
shells in a fragmentary state, are thrown up by the wind, and, from
the large proportion of lime they contain (70 per cent. of the car-
bonate), they soon become consolidated into stone fit for building-
purposes *. These dunes are, for the most part, covered with a rank
verdure or a low thick and impenetrable bush, in which land-shells
are abundant, the impressions of which are not unfrequently met
with in the newly constructed sandstone. The rivers, with a descent
of about 40 feet in the mile, flow very rapidly, and bring down great
quantities of detrital matter in a highly subdivided state. This
becomes deposited at their mouths to form rock, which not unfre-
quently is found to include the enduring shells of Oysters and other
littoral molluscs +. The water sometimes bears down fine debris of
dark greenstone, which, alternating with the lighter-coloured de-
tritus, forms a deposit in which several strata can be counted in the
space of a single inch.
The recent deposits in the upper parts of the district yield fine
agates, derived from dykes of amygdaloidal rock.
The Quathlamba Range appears to be composed of alternating
strata of greenstone and the shaly rocks of the Colony. It attains a
height little less than 9000 feet.
The copper of the Natal District, and of the district of the Free
Republic beyond the Vaal River {one of the chief branches of the
Orange River), occurs in the form of malachite in highly contorted
gneiss, the mica of which is not unfrequently replaced by hornblende,
thus forming a laminated syenitic rock. From the diffusion of the
ore in the rock, and the readiness with which the outcrops are
* [See also Capt. Nelson’s Observations on these rocks of Aolian formation on
the South African Coast and elsewhere, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 206.]
+ The author incidentally alludes to the richness of the existing molluscan
fauna, both of land and sea, on the Natal Coast, and the characteristic difference
existing between it and that on the coast of the Cape Colony,—a difference arising
from the heating influence of a current flowing southward along the shore from
the Equator, through the Mozambique Channel.
468 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [May 2,
exhausted, I am not very sanguine that the sources hitherto dis-
covered will prove productive. I believe, however, that beyond the
Vaal River the ore is in considerable abundance, but up to this time
I am not aware that any attempts have been made to develope a
trade in that valuable metal from the inland quarter in question.
May 2, 1855.
W. Foster White, Esq., C. S. Mann, Esq., L. Barrett, Esq., and
J. D’ Urban, Esq., were elected Fellows.
The following Communications were read :—
1. On the AnTHRACITIC Scuists and the FucoipaL REMAINS
occurring in the Lower Siturian Rocks of the SoutH of
Scottanp. By Professor R. Harkness, F.G.S.
Tue Lower Silurians of the South of Scotland, as shown by other
authors*, constitute the whole of the mountainous region which,
lying south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, forms the Southern
Highlands of Scotland, except a small patch at the eastern extremity
of Kirkcudbright Bay, which appertains to the Upper Silurianst.
These Lower Silurians have a prevailing inclination towards the
N.N.W., and along their northern margin we have the highest strata
developed. At the north-western extremity of the range, near Gir-
van in Ayrshire, these higher beds consist of limestone and sand-
stones, abounding in fossils characteristic of the Llandeilo portion of
the Lower Silurians. Towards the south deeper-seated strata occur ;
and as we find no traces of limestone beds in these, fossil remains
become rare, the deposits consisting principally of sandstone, with
some shales. Among these, however, under certain circumstances,
organic remains are met with, more particularly as we approach the
lowest portion of the formation.
A locality where these deep-seated strata are well seen is in Glen-
kiln, in the parish of Kirkmichael, about nine miles north of Dum-
fries. Commencing at the entrance of the glen, we find exposed, in
the course of the Glenkiln Burn (see fig.) underneath the manse of
Kirkmichael, a small patch of bunter-sandstone (?) conglomerate (a)
abutting against a purple sandstone (1), which forms the lowest
portion of the Silurian strata here seen. Similar sandstones or grits
(:) make their appearance higher up the stream, and, although par-
tially covered with gravel, form the bed of the brook until we reach
a spot known as Lamb-foot.
Besides purple grits, some of which contain quartz fragments,
bluish-grey grits occur, and with these are associated purple and
greyish indurated shales.
* See Nicol, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 204, &c.; J. C. Moore, ibid.
vol. v. p. 7, &c.; Murchison, ibid. vol. vii. p. 139, &c., and ‘ Siluria,’ p. 149.
+ See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 46, &c.; and vol. viii. p. 393.
$ Ibid. vol. vii. p. 49, and vol. viii. p. 393.
1855. | HARKNESS—ANTHRACITE-SCHISTS.
These purple and grey grits and
shales have a prevailing dip towards
the N.N.W. at an angle of about 40°,
much less than the ordinary dip of the
Silurians, which is in the same direc-
tion, usually at an angle of about 70° ;
and these strata, having the smaller
dip, attain a perpendicular thickness of
about 1500 feet, throughout which no
fossils are seen.
Above this series of grits and shales,
we find in the course of the brook
beds of anthracitic shale (2), which are
crumpled up by flexures. As the brook
immediately above and below the an-
thracite-shales flows over pebbles, the
deposits upon which these shales rest
are not here seen. The lower beds of
the anthracite-shale occur in the form
of indurated black shales, having an-
thracitic lamine running throughthem.
In the more anthracitic shales we
have abundance of fossils, which con-
sist of Graptolites sagittarius, Diplo-
grapsus pristis, D. ramosus, D. mucro-
natus, and D. bicornis; but these, as
we shall afterwards see, are not the
lowest fossils which present themselves.
After leaving the flexured anthra-
cite-shale, the strata are hidden for a
distance of about 80 yards across the
strike, when they again appear to a
small extent, dipping at a high angle
towards the 8., and are immediately
succeeded. by others (1*) with the same
dip as occurs in the deposits below the
anthracite-shale, viz. about 40° N.N.W.
They resemble those which are seen
lower down the stream, and seem to be
a repetition of the same strata, re-
sulting from a small anticlinal. Grits
and shales, about 240 feet in perpen-
dicular thickness, here present them-
selves; and are succeeded by a thin
black shale, immediately underlying
the anthracite-shales hererepeated (2*) ;
and in this black shale we have fossils
which occupy the lowest position in
this locality.
This black shale is about 6 inches
in thickness ; its lower portion is filled
Section of the Lower Silurian schists in Glenkiln, Dumfriesshire.—Length of Section about two miles,
A
ss
7)
Lamb-foot.
Anticlinal.
N.N.W.
The Manse.
469
* Level of the brook.
4, Drab-coloured shales.
2*, Anthracite shale, overlying thin shale, 6 inches thick, containing Siphonotreta and Graptolites.
3. Graptolite shale.
a. Bunter-sandstone (?) conglomerate.
1,1*. Purple and grey grits.
2. Anthracite and graptolite shales,
470 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 2,
with a small rounded variety of the Diplograpsus folium, generally
in an imperfect state. In the same shale Didymograpsus sextans,
Hall, is found along with the Graptolites already referred to as oc-
curring in the anthracite-shale, and also a new form of Rastrites,
characterized by the length of its cells, which attain almost an inch
in size (see p. 475). Besides these, an orbicular Brachiopod, which
Mr. Salter informs me is the Siphonotreta micula, M‘Coy, occurs ;
this is the only bivalve shell as yet obtained in these low deposits.
Separating this black shale from the underlying purple and grey
grits is a thin drab-coloured shale, in which no fossils are found.
In the anthracite-shales (2*) which succeed the black shale, we
meet with the same fossils which make their appearance in the flexured
beds below (2) ; and above these there is seen another dark-coloured
shale (3), also abounding in Graptolites, some of which do not occur
in the anthracitic schists, viz. Graptolites Sedgwicku, Diplograpsus
folium, and Rastrites peregrinus. Above this another bed of black
shale appears, in which only Diplograpsus teretiusculus occurs.
Light drab-coloured shales (4) succeed ; these are devoid of fossils,
but resemble lithologically the deposit which underlies the thin black
fossiliferous shale. Beyond the drab-coloured shales (4) the bed of
the stream in the glen above consists of gravel.
Deposits similar to those above-described are common to many
localities in the Silurians of the South of Scotland. They are well
seen in the course of the Duffkinnell Burn, in the neighbourhood of
Rae Hills, in the parish of Johnstone, Dumfriesshire ; and here they
afford many of the fossils just alluded to, as well as a form of Ras-
trites new to Great Britain, the R. Linnei, Barr. In this locality,
besides the remains of these zoophytes, we have evidence of a more
highly organized race of animals. These consist of portions of Crus-
tacea. One of them is figured in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol.
viii. pl. 21. fig. 10, and is named by Mr. Salter Dithyrocaris ? apty-
choides. Another, which at first sight was a puzzle to paleeonto-
logists, Mr. Salter informs me is a portion of the carapace of a
crustacean probably of the same genus,—a genus which has hitherto
been found only in the carboniferous formation, principally in coal-
shales ; a circumstance supporting the conclusion that the anthracitic
schists owe their origin to conditions somewhat akin to those under
which the shales of the coal-measures were formed.
Among these strata of the South of Scotland, we have as yet seen
no organic remains from which we can form any idea as to the origin
of the anthracite present in some of the schists ; the fossils already
referred to being of animal nature, and occurring in the form of
pyritous stains. In one instance, however, in black shales overlying
the anthracite-schists, the remains of a Fucoid were found ; and this
is probably the lowest position in which distinct tzaces of such remains
have been met with in Scotland. On referring this fossil to Mr.
Salter, he writes me thus :—“ It is, I believe, a Fucoid; but that of
itself is most interesting, as we have no clear traces of fucoids so
low.”
Although the anthracitic schists themselves have not yet afforded
this form of fossil, still there are some reasons for inferring that this
1855. | HARKNESS—ANTHRACITE-SCHISTS. 471
deposit has derived its carbonaceous matter from the existence of
sea-weeds during the earlier portion of the Lower Silurian epoch.
In order to obtain more intimate knowledge with regard to the
origin of the anthracite, I submitted portions of it to a minute m1-
croscopical examination, both in the form of powder and likewise in
the state of ash. In no case, however, could I obtain anything
which indicated vegetable structure, the ash presenting itself in the
form of minute grains of quartz, having upon them the transverse
striation prevailing in this mineral. Through the kindness of my
friend and colleague Dr. Blyth, I am enabled also to give the ana-
lysis of the anthracitic schists, which is as follows :—
Wratercit de ote uo te a ae 1°05
Carbon ine. 24} f 1°52
Potash in a state of silicate ......... Bae: in J 1:29
Adami “2 sacac ac-scscenapevesveuens evens dilute acid. 7°43
Silica on bier a J |. -3616
100-00
Remarks on the above Analyses.—Dr. Voelcker is of opinion that
the soils of the Cotteswold Hills are the products of the decompo-
sition of the strata on which they rest. It may, however (supposing
this hypothesis true), appear surprising that there is not a greater
amount of carbonate of lime in soils which rest on limestone rocks ;
but the fact is, that a large proportion of this constituent is being
constantly dissolved and carried away into the substrata by the in-
filtration of rain-water charged with carbonic acid. This theory, as
to the origin of these soils, is also in unison with the observations of
Professor Buckman, who has so fully illustrated the mutual relations
subsisting between the soils and subsoils, and the changes in the one
consequent on the changes in the other. We may therefore consider
it as an established fact, that the soils of the Cotteswold Hills cannot
be considered as a ‘‘ Drift,” derived from aqueous deposition, but as
being due solely to atmospheric agency.
,
{
4
— con be
oe
ty ¢ ee
OURN. GEOL. Soc. YOL.AL.PLXIV.
a
LoS Ese CH MAP
of the
Most PARTS
VU /BRICA
Be TER.M A.
Drift, with Boulders & a
recent shells, bones of the
Veanneth &cther animals.
Alumincus Shales.
Goal & Lignites . 4
Devonian.
SULUTTAN .
(rystalline Rocks,
(Gness, Granite, Trap ke)
San Francisce
1855. | ISBISTER—NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 497
May 16, 1855.
KE. H. Hargraves, Esq. was elected a Fellow.
The following Communications were read :—
1. On the GroLoey of the Hupson’s Bay TERRITORIES, and of
portions of the Arctic and NortH-WestTeRN RecGions of
America; with a Coloured Geological Map.
By A. K. Issister, M.A., M.R.C.P. &c.
[Puate XIV.]
[ConTENTs. ]
Introduction.
Territories East of the Rocky Mountains.
Physical Features; and Range of the Crystalline rocks.
Central Plateau of Crystalline Rocks.
Silurian Basin of Hudson’s Bay.
Silurian Basin of Lake Winipeg.
Devonian Formation of the Elk or Mackenzie River.
Other Formations of the Mackenzie River Basin.
Silurian Rocks of the Great Slave Lake and River.
Carboniferous Series.
Lignite Formation.
Elevatory Movements; and Pleistocene Deposits.
Territories West of the Rocky Mountains.
Physical Features.
Oregon Territory and Russian America.
Fossils of the Carboniferous Formation.
Jurassic Fossils.
Tertiary Fossils.
Fossils of the Drift.
Intropuction.—In submitting to the Society a Geological Map
of this extensive region, with a few explanatory remarks, my object
has been to recapitulate very concisely the various observations of
the geologists and travellers who have explored, and of the naturalists
who have examined the organic remains of, this portion of the Ame-
rican Continent, and to present as completely as possible the results
which have been hitherto attained in the study of its geological form-
ations. ‘The numberless difficulties inherent in such an undertaking,
embracing a range of country so vast and so difficult to explore, or
even to obtain access to, must necessarily render any attempt of this
nature very imperfect ; but I have been induced to undertake it in
the belief that, in the absence of any general view of the geological -
structure of this extensive but interesting region, even the most cur-
sory classification of its formations might be useful to those employed
in developing the structure of the crust of the earth,—the more espe-
cially as it is not probable that the attention of practical geologists
will soon be directed to this distant and almost inaccessible field of
investigation,
To render the present attempt as complete as the state of our
— Sills }
Fe 8 =F
s 3 eh
z “gia — aes . e GEOLOGICAL SKETCH Map
) \ of the
oA ; 2 Ne NORTHERNMOST PaRTs |
% : * fs ances AR NS ~
‘ nl y
o Cy ye ?
.So aS eee
Re
er f S
AMERICA
AK Tsacae MA
frevarion G
Dritt, with: Boulders & a
recent shells, bones cf the
Mammmeth kotheranimals.
Tertiary.
Alumincus Shales.
Goal & Lignites.
Devonian.
_ esses et hh a SS ee en
90 A
498 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. {May 16,
knowledge will admit, I have carefully studied all the published
documents and the geological collections relating to the subject to
which I have been able to obtain access. And I have myself re-
sided for many years in various parts of the territory, which, I may
add, I have traversed from one extremity to the other,—from the
borders of the United States to the Arctic Ocean in one direction, and
from the frontiers of Russian America to Hudson’s Bay in the other.
The titles of the publications to which I have referred are indicated
below, and may be considered as presenting a bibliographical view of
what is known of the geology of this part of America.
LIST OF WORKS RELATING TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN
PART OF NORTH AMERICA.
North-West Coast and Russian America.
Geology of the United States Exploring Expedition under the command of
Commodore Wilkes. By James D. Dana. New York, 1850.
Geological Appendix to Captain Beechey’s Voyage to Behring’s Straits in the
ship “ Blossom.”” By Dr. Buckutanp. London, 1839.
Beitrag zur Kenntniss der orographischen und geognostischen Beschaffenheit
der Nord-West Kiiste Amerika’s. Von Dr. C. Grewinex. St. Petersburg, 1850.
Exploration and Survey of Peel’s River; a portion of the chain of the Rocky
Mountains and the country west of M°¢Kenzie’s River. By A. K. IspisTEr.
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1846.
Hudson’s Bay Territories and Arctic Regions.
Topographical and Geological Appendices to the Narratives of Sir John Frank-
lin’s First and Second Journeys to the Shores of the Polar Sea. By Dr. Ricu-
arpson. And Note on the Fossils. By Prof.Jameson. London, 1825 & 1828.
Observations on the Rock Specimens collected during the First Polar Voyage
of Captain Parry. By Cartes Konic. London, 1824.
Notes on the Geology of the Countries discovered during Captain Parry’s
Second and Third Expeditions. By Professor Jameson. London, 1826.
Geological Appendix to the Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole
by Sir Edward Parry, in the year 1827. By Professor Jameson. London, 1828.
Geological Appendix to Dr. Scoresby’s “‘ Journal of a Voyage to the Northern
Whale Fishery, including Researches and Discoveries on the East Coast of Green-
land.” By Professor Jameson. Edinburgh, 1823.
Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions: Edinburgh Cabinet
Library ; with a Chapter on Arctic Geology. By Sir Joun Lesxiz, Professor
JAMESON, and HueuH Murray. 1832.
Voyage of Discovery for Exploring Baffin’s Bay. By J. Ross. 1819. Ap-
pendix on the Rock-specimens. By Dr. M‘Cutiocu.
Journal of Captain Penny’s Voyage to Baffin’s Bay and Barrow’s Straits, in
search of Sir John Franklin. By Dr. P.C.ScurHertanp. With an Appendix on
Geology. By J. W. Satter. London, 1852.
Arctic Silurian Fossils. By J. W. Satter. 1853. Quart. Journ. Geol.Soc. vol. ix.
On the Geological and Glacial Phenomena of the Coasts of Davis’s Straits and
Baffin’s Bay. By P. C. SurHertanp, M.D. 1853. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix.
Rink, H. Geology of West Greenland. Trans. Roy. Soc. Denmark, 1852. (Om
den geographiske Beskaffenhed af de Danske Handelsdistrikter i Nordgronland.)
STEINHAUER on the Geology of Labrador. 1814. Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. ii.
BayFIELD, on the Geology of the N. Coast of the St. Lawrence. 1837. Trans.
Geol. Soc. 2nd Series, vol. v.
On the Geology of Lake Huron. By Dr. Bigspy. 1824. Trans Geol. Soc.
2nd Series, vol. i.
On the Geology of the Lake of the Woods [and Rainy River]. By Dr. Bressy.
1852. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii.
1855. | ISBISTER—NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 499
On the Geology of Rainy Lake, South Hudson’s Bay. By Dr. Biessy. 1854.
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x.
On the Drift of the Lake of the Woods and South Hudson’s Bay. By Dr.
Biessy. 1851. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii.
Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River.
By Captain Bacx,R.N. Appendix on Geology. By W.H. Firron, M.D. Lon-
don, 1836.
Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in search
of the Discovery Ships under Sir John Franklin. By Sir Joun RicHarpson.
London, 1851.
On some points of the Physical Geography of North America. By Sir J.
RicHARDSON. 1851. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii.
Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and inciden-
tally of a portion of Nebraska Territory [including the Red River of Lake Wini-
peg]. By Davin Date Owen. Philadelphia, 1852.
The chief sources of information, however, on which I have relied
im confirmation of my own observations are the valuable Memoirs of
Mr. Salter on Arctic Silurian Fossils, published in the Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society, vol. ix., and in the Appendix to
Dr. Sutherland’s Journal of Capt. Penny’s Voyage, and the exten-
sive researches and the numerous able publications of the great
Arctic traveller Sir John Richardson, to whom science is indebted
for nearly all that is known of the natural history of the vast region
surrounding Hudson’s Bay.
The collections of rock-specimens and minerals brought to Eng-
land by the expeditions of discovery through this territory, to which
Sir John Richardson was attached, and the various Arctic expe-
ditions by which its northern shores have been traced, as well as by
those recently engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin, are very
extensive, and throw much valuable light on the mineral structure of
the various formations which prevail in the northern regions of Ame-
rica. It was not, however, until within the last few years that any
considerable collection had been made of the organie remains belong-
ing to these formations, by which alone their relative ages and their
true characters can be determined. Some of the fossil remains
alluded to have been described and figured by Mr. Salter in the
papers already referred to, others by Dr. Dale Owen, of the U.S.
Geological Survey, Dr. Buckland, and others ; and some (as will be
subsequently noticed) have been described, though only incidentally
and in general terms, by Sir John Richardson, Mr. Sowerby, the
late Mr. Konig of the British Museum, and the late Professor Jame-
son of Edinburgh. A considerable number remain still undescribed
in the Museum of the Edinburgh University, the British Museum,
the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, and the Museum
uf Haslar Hospital, or are mentioned for the first time in the present
aper.
: ie examination of these specimens leaves no doubt of the existence
of a vast development of paleeozoic deposits, extending with little in-
termission (so far as is known) from the northern frontiers of Canada
and the United States to the farthest point to which our researches
have extended in the Arctic Ocean, and from Hudson’s Bay on the
east to near the Rocky Mountains on the west,—presenting alto-
500 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [May 16,
gether a geological horizon of a grandeur and extent unequalled pro-
bably in any other part of the world, largely as the researches of Sir
Roderick Murchison, Sir Charles Lyell, and others have shown such
formations to be developed in Russia and the United States.
A slight sketch of the chief physical features of this wide region
will demonstrate the remarkable symmetry and unbroken condition
of its sedimentary deposits, and to what an unusual degree they have
apparently been exempted from those igneous disturbances which
have complicated the geological structure of many other countries
of far less extent in other parts of the world.
TERRITORIES East oF THE Rocky Movunratns.
Physical Features; and Range of the Crystalline Rocks.—
Separated from Canada by the great granitic range of the Laurentine
or Canadian Mountains, which form the division between the hy-
drographic basins of these northern regions and those of the St.
Lawrence and its great lakes, the Hudson’s Bay Territories may be
considered as forming one vast plain, diversified only by a single
low granitic ridge running northwards from the west end and
almost the whole north shore of Lake Superior as far as Great Bear
Lake, in a direction nearly parallel with the range of the Rocky
Mountains. This low belt of crystalline rocks (see Map, Pl. XIV.)
averages about 200 miles in breadth, and is evidently the northern
continuation of the Laurentine range, which, after extending unin-
terruptedly along the northern frontiers of Canada until it comes in
contact with the northern spurs of the Alleghanies near the mouth
of the St. Lawrence, is deflected northwards in a direction again
nearly parallel with the Rocky Mountains through Labrador and
along the shores of Hudson’s Straits and Baffin’s Bay until it finally
disappears beneath the limestones of Lancaster Sound and Barrow’s
Straits. The striking correspondence between the direction of this
granitic range, as thus traced, and the general contour of Hudson’s
Bay will be at once obvious from an inspection of the Map (Pl. XIV.),
and would appear to point out this vast mass of crystalline rocks as
the probable axis of elevation of the great movement by which the
Hudson’s Bay Territories, as well as Labrador and the lands and
islands along the west coast of Baffin’s Bay, were first upheaved from
the primeval ocean under which they once reposed. The grand
chain of the Rocky Mountains may be considered also as forming
a new axis of elevation, at nearly an equal distance farther west, up-
heaving in a similar manner the wide-spread strata which repose on
its flanks.
The existence of lines of division, pursuing a parallel course, in a
general meridional direction, like those just mentioned, is one of the
most prominent general circumstances hitherto ascertained respecting
the geology of this part of America. The course of the Rocky
Mountain chain, from the Sierra of Mexico in lat. 30° to its termina-
tion on the coast of the Arctic Sea in lat. 69°, is about N. by W.,
with very little deviation anywhere. This is also the general direction
1855. ISBISTER—NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 501
of the rugged and lofty coast-range of Labrador and Baffin’s Bay,
as well as of the west coast of Greenland.
By carrying the eye over the map from point to point along the
western edge of the crystalline belt running through the Hudson’s
Bay Territories, it will be seen that the average direction is the same ;
though, as it proceeds northwards it inclines slightly towards the
Rocky Mountains, which, it is to be observed however, begin here
to lose their continuity ; several of the western ranges bemg found
to deviate from the general direction of the chain, and to develope
themselves in irregular masses through the interior of Russian
America.
We possess little reliable information respecting the structure of
the mountain ranges of Labrador (on the east) or of the Rocky
Mountains (on the west) north of the forty-seventh parallel, where
they were crossed by Lewis and Clarke, in 1805, and no organic re-
mains (so far as I am aware) from either locality. Sir John Richard-
son, who is in possession of all the information respecting the Rocky
Mountain range, collected from the traders of the Hudson’s Bay
Company and from the botanists Douglas and Drummond, who crossed
it between the sources of the Elk and Peace Rivers, describes the
eastern slopes as consisting of conglomerate and sandstone, to which
succeed limestone and clayslates, probably of Silurian age, and gra-
nite. This view is to some extent borne out by the section of this
range given by Marcou, at Fort Laramie, in lat. 42°, from the
Surveys of the United States’ geologists. Farther north, where the
chain was explored by myself, near its termination in the Arctic Sea,
the prevailing formations were found through their organic remains
(as will be subsequently noticed) to be referable to certain members
of the Carboniferous series, corresponding probably to the Mountain
Limestone of English geologists. From the highest part of the
range, near latitude 55° N., where it attains an elevation of 16,000 feet
above the sea, the four largest rivers of North America—the Missouri,
the Saskatchewan, the Mackenzie, and the Columbia take their rise.
It may be added, that these four feeders of opposite oceans not only
take their origin from the same range of mountains, but three of
them almost from the same hill,—the head-waters of the Columbia
and the Mackenzie being only about “two hundred yards”’ apart,
and those of the Columbia and the Saskatchewan, not more than
‘fourteen paces.”” It may be mentioned also as a singular fact, that
one branch of the Mackenzie, the “ Peace River” of Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, actually rises on the western side of the Rocky Moun-
tains within 300 yards of another large river flowing into the Pacific,
the Tacoutchetesse, or Fraser’s River, which discharges itself into
the Gulf of Georgia, opposite Vancouver’s Island. |
Central Plateau of Crystalline Rocks.—Marcou, in his recently
published Geological Map of the United States, has traced the cry-
stalline formation of the Laurentine Mountains a considerable distance
to the westward of Lake Superior, where it appears to form the chief
constituent of the low watershed which separates the waters of the
502 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 16,
Missouri from those of the Saskatchewan and other rivers flowing
into Hudson’s Bay.
The zone of crystalline rocks, chiefly gneiss, with granite and trap,
previously alluded to as extending for a very great distance in a
north-west direction from Lake Superior, is likewise very little ele-
vated for the greater part of its extent above the surrounding country.
Sir John Franklin, on his first overland expedition to the shores of
the Polar Sea, crossed this granitic chain nearly at right angles to its
line of direction in proceeding from Hudson’s Bay to Lake Winipeg,
where it was 220 miles wide; it has been since crossed at various
other points, and traced nearly along its entire length to the Arctic
Sea. We are thus in possession of the requisite data for mapping
its course and extent, and indicating its general features with con-
siderable accuracy. Branching off from the Laurentine ranges,
it assumes a north-westerly direction from the Lake of the
Woods (where it first comes in contact with the limestones which
underlie the prairies on the west), until it reaches Lake Winipeg,
along the eastern side of which it is then continued for about 280
miles in nearly a N.N.W. direction. From Norway Point at the
north end of Lake Winipeg to Isle 4 la Crosse, a distance of 420
miles in a straight. line, the western boundary has, according to Sir
John Richardson, a W.N.W. direction. For 240 miles from
Isle 4 la Crosse to Athabasca Lake, its course turns in a somewhat
irregular outline northward, enclosing the whole of that lake with
the exception of its western extremity. Thence it is continued to
MacTavish Bay in Great Bear Lake, a distance of 500 miles in
a general direction of about N.W. by W., and is marked, according
to Sir John Richardson, “‘ by the Slave River, a deep inlet on the
north side of Great Slave Lake, and a chain of rivers and lakes, in-
cluding Great Marten Lake, which discharge themselves into that
inlet.”” From Great Bear Lake to the sea it follows the general
course of the Coppermine River, its termination being marked by the
mouth of that stream in lat. 71° 55’ N. and long. 120° 30! W.; or
perhaps more correctly by Richardson’s River, a little to the west of
it. In this part, for the first time, the chain rises to the altitude of
hills, marked on the Map as the Copper Mountains, which attain in
some parts a height of 800 feet above the bed of the river. The
slight elevations composing the main portion of the chain seldom
rise, as has been already observed, much above the level of the sur-
rounding country, giving to the entire range the character of a low
swampy plateau of crystalline rocks, covered by an immense net-
work of small lakes and swamps, connected by narrow and tortuous
channels. The low rugged knolls of granite and gneiss, round which
these channels wind, “have mostly,” says Sir John Richardson,
‘rounded summits, and they do not form continuous ridges, but are
detached from each other by valleys of various breadth, though gene-
rally narrow and very seldom level. When the valleys are of con-
siderable extent, they are almost invariably occupied by a lake, the
proportion of water in this district being very great ; from the top of
the highest hill on the Hill River thirty-six lakes are said to be
1855. | ISBISTER—NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 5038
visible. The small elevation of the chain may be inferred from an
examination of the Map, which shows that it is crossed by several
rivers that rise in the Rocky Mountains, the most considerable of
which are the Churchill, and the Saskatchewan or Nelson Rivers.
These great streams have, for many hundred miles from their origin,
the ordinary appearance of rivers in being bounded by continuous
parallel banks, but on entering the primitive district, they present
chains of lake-like dilatations, which are full of islands and have
a very irregular outline. Many of the numerous arms of these ex-
pansions wind for miles through the neighbouring country, and the
whole district bears a striking resemblance, in the manner in which
it is intersected by water, to the coast of Norway and the adjoining
part of Sweden. The successive dilatations of the rivers have scarcely
any current, but are connected with each other by one or more straits,
in which the water-course is more or less obstructed by rocks, and
the stream is very turbulent and rapid. The most prevalent rock in
the chain is gneiss ; but there are also granite and mica-slate, toge-
ther with numerous beds of amphibolic rocks.”
The entire length of this remarkable plateau, from Lake Superior
to its termination on the Arctic Sea, may be estimated at somewhat
more than 1500 miles. Such an enormous extension of crystalline and
eruptive rocks, nowhere assuming the character of a mountain district,
is a remarkable example of the tranquil operation of an upheaving
force exerted over an immense area, yet with a limited and regulated
intensity, and a constancy of direction which render it worthy of atten-
tion, not only as a striking geological phenomenon, but as serving,
perhaps, to throw some light on the dynamical conditions under which
those vast sedimentary deposits which have excited the astonishment
of geologists in America from their unparalleled extension have been
originally upheaved.
It may be mentioned also as another remarkable circumstance in
connexion with this granitic tract, that it is along its western mar-
gin, in the line of its junction with the limestones and other second-
ary deposits which extend between it and the Rocky Mountains, that
all the great lakes of America are found. If we regard Lake Erie
and Lake Michigan as expansions respectively of Lake Ontario and
Lake Huron (being evidently component parts of the same lake-
basins), we shall find the following series of great lakes—Lake On-
tario, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, Lake Winipeg, Athabasca Lake,
Great Slave Lake, Marten Lake, and Great Bear Lake, succeeding
one another in a N.N.W. direction along the line of fracture, and in-
variably bounded to a greater or less extent on one side (generally
the northern or eastern) by crystalline rocks, and on the opposite side
by limestones and other secondary formations ; the northern coast-line
being moreover indented nearly im the same general bearing by Coro-
nation Gulf, where, as already stated, the lie of crystalline rocks
terminates. It is to be observed, however, that the rivers connecting
these lakes run generally wholly in one formation or in the other.
Silurian Basin of Hudson's Bay.— The granitic tract just de-
504 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [May 16,
scribed is bounded to the eastward by a narrow belt of limestone,
beyond which there is a flat swampy and partly alluvial district,
forming the shores of Hudson’s Bay. The west coast of the bay is
everywhere extremely low, and the depth of water decreases so gradu-
ally on approaching it, that in seven fathoms of water the tops of the
trees on the land are just visible from a ship’s deck. Large boulder-
stones are scattered over the beach, and sometimes form shoals as far
as five miles from shore. A low and uniformly swampy aspect cha-
racterizes the surrounding country for several miles inland. The
upper soil presents a thin stratum of half-decayed mosses, imme-
diately under which we find a thick bed of tenacious and somewhat
shaley bluish clay containing boulder-stones. Beyond this occurs an
extensive deposit of limestone, completely encircling Hudson’s Bay,
and following the course of the crystalline rocks to the extreme limit
of our researches in the Arctic Sea. |
Dr. Conybeare, in his Report on Geology, to the British Associa-
tion for 1832, had noticed the great similarity between the fossils
brought to England by the Arctic Expeditions of Parry and Franklin,
and those of the Silurian formations of our own country. The Geo-
logical Notices appended to the Narratives of those Expeditions by
Professor Jameson, Mr. Konig, and Sir John Richardson, who had
the advantage of Mr. Sowerby’s assistance in examining the organic
remains, had previously led to the same view; and it may now be
considered as finally established by Mr. Salter’s examination and de-
scription of the extensive collections from the Arctic Regions *,
brought to England by the recent expeditions in search of Sir John
Franklin. The formation described by Dr. Sutherland as extending
along the shores of Wellington Channel and Barrow’s Straits, and
considered by Mr. Salter to belong to the Upper Silurian group, has
since been identified, through its organic remains, at several points
along the coasts of Hudson’s Bay. Recognized by Mr. Logan at
Lake Temiscamang, and at Lakes Abbitibie and St. John, on the
northern edge of the Laurentine Mountains, it has been successively
identified along the Moose and Albany Rivers flowing into James’s
Bay, at Marten’s Falls+, and along the northern edge of the granitic
plateau, thence to York Factory, along the Great Fish River, of Sir
George Back {, at Igloolik §, and along both shores of Prince Re-
gent’s Inlet ||, to which last-mentioned locality Mr. Salter’s investiga-
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 313.
+ By Sir John Richardson and Mr. Barnston. ‘‘ Boat Voyage through Rupert’s
Land,” vol. ii. t Dr. Fitton and Mr. Stokes. § Professor Jameson.
|| Sir Roderick Murchison, ‘ Siluria,’ p. 428. I cannot omit, in this sketch of
the geology of so large a portion of the North American Continent, to refer to the
very accurate discrimination and description of its leading features contained in the
recently published work of Sir Roderick Murchison on ‘ Siluria.’ To this import-
ant work, and to the long series of researches of which it is the fruit, the geolo-
gists of America must feel under the highest obligation, not only for the clear
and comprehensive view it exhibits of the whole phenomena of Paleozoic rocks
throughout that continent, but for the important and valuable aid it affords to the
explorer and investigator of its organic remains, by the establishment of a definite
and perspicuous standard of comparison and reference, by which its geological
formations can be identified and described.
1855. | ISBISTER— NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 505
tions brmg us down. The extreme points here indicated are Lake
Temiscamang, in lat. 47° 19' N., and the shores of Wellington Chan-
nel, between 77° and 78° N., giving the enormous range of 30 degrees
of latitude, over which, as far as our present information reaches, the
Silurian formation extends uninterruptedly without any important
variation, so far as is known, either im its mimeralogical constitution
or its stratification. The fossils from this district hitherto submitted
to Mr. Salter’s examination belong exclusively to the Upper Silurian.
They are comprised in the following list; and most of them are
figured in the Appendix to Dr. Sutherland’s Journal of Capt. Penny’s
Expedition.
Crustacea.
1. Encrinurus levis, Angelin? 3. Leperditia Balthica, Hisinger sp.,
2. Proetus, sp. var. arctica, Jones.
° Mollusca.
4, Lituites, sp. _ 16. Spirifer crispus, Zinn. sp. ?
5. Orthoceras Ommaneyi, Salter. ive , Sp.
6, 7 , 2 species. 18. Chonetes lata, Von Buch?
8, 9. Murchisonia, 2 sp. 19. Pentamerus conchidium, Dalm.
10. Euomphalus, sp. 20. Rhynchonella Phoca, Salter.
11. Bellerophon nautarum, Salter. 21. Mansonii, Salter.
12. Modiola (or Modiolopsis). 22. sublepida, De Vern.
13. Strophomena Donnetti, Salter. ay 24. 5 2 Sp:
14. , Sp. 25. Atrypa reticularis, Linn. sp.
15. Orthis.
Encrinites.
26. Actinocrinus, sp. 27. Crotalocrinus, sp.
Corals.
28. Ptychophyllum. 40. Syringopora, sp.
29. Strephodes Pickthornii, Salter. 4i. Heliolites (Porites).
30. ? Austini, Salter. 42. Cystiphyllum, sp.
31. Favistella reticulata, Salter. 43. Cyathophyllum, sp.
32 Franklini, Salter. 44, Clisiophyllum, sp.
33. Fenestella, sp. 45. Aulopora, sp.
34. Favosites polymorpha, Goldfuss. 46. Coenites (Limaria), sp.
35 Gothlandica, Linn. sp. 47. Calophyllum phragmoceras,
36, 37. » 2 Sp- Salter.
38. Columnaria Sutherlandi, Salter. 48. Arachnophyllum Richardsonii,
39. Halysites catenulatus, Linn. sp. Salter.
Mr. Konig describes the limestones from which these remains
have been obtained as of an ash-grey or yellowish and grey colour,
often foetid, and sometimes crystalline or compact, strongly resem-
bling the Transition limestones of Gothland, and some of the fcetid
varieties of the Mountain Limestone of Derbyshire. He mentions
also that it is filled with zoophytes and shells ; and in some parts is
quite made up of the detritus of Encrinites, the fragments of which
are so comminuted that the rock might readily be mistaken for a
granular limestone.
A small collection of fossils * recently procured by the writer from
.* The fossils were collected by Dr. Roderick Kennedy, the Medical Officer at
Moose Factory.
506 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [May 16,
James’s Bay (the southern extremity of Hudson’s Bay), which have
been submitted to Mr. Salter, but not yet named, exhibit the same
general Upper Silurian character with those above quoted. They
comprise specimens of the same Corals (Favosites, Cyathophyllum,
Clisiophyllum, and Favistella), the universal Atrypa reticularis,
Pentamerus oblongus, several Spirifers and Orthide, and an Ortho-
ceras. Mr. Barnston, of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Service, who
has resided for upwards of twenty years in various parts of the
district under notice, and whose qualifications as an observer are
highly spoken of by Sir John Richardson, has traced the Silurian
rocks from James’s Bay to Marten’s Falls, near the source of Albany
River, at the eastern edge of the granitic plateau, which would give
an average breadth of about 200 miles for the formation in this part.
The boat-route from Lake Winipeg to York Factory crosses the
limestone belt at right angles to its course at Rock Portage, and its
breadth is there found to diminish to less than 100 miles. The ave-
rage width of the formation may perhaps be estimated at about 150
miles.
The mineral structure of the rocks forming the northern shores of
America has been so fully and minutely investigated and described
by Prof. Jameson, Mr. Konig, Dr. Fitton, and Sir John Richardson,
that I shall here, as well as in the notices of the other formations of
this territory, confine myself exclusively to the examination of their
organic remains, referring the reader for every necessary information
on the mineralogical character of the rocks in which they are found
to the valuable publications of those authors.
Silurian Basin of Lake Winipeg.—To the westward of the plateau
of crystalline rocks, and followimg its course for a considerable
distance northward, lies an extensive deposit of horizontal limestone,
underlying the wide prairie country which extends towards the Rocky
Mountains. Lake Winipeg, which is situated on the line of junction
of the two formations, is a long and narrow sheet of water, 230 geo-
graphical miles long, and about 40 wide; and, with its associated
lakes (Moose Lake, Muddy Lake, Winnepegoos, and Manitoba
Lakes), receives, through its affluents—the Saskatchewan, the Red
River, and other streams—a wide extent of prairie drainage. The
commercial route from Lake Superior up to this pomt lies almost
wholly within the granitic tract, touching on Silurian deposits only
at the mouth of Rainy River and at one of the south-western arms of
the Lake of the Woods, where Dr. Bigsby has detected a few organic
remains indicative of the Upper Silurian formation *. The Winipeg
flows wholly within the granitic district, and has ites lake-like dilata-
tions and other characteristics of the streams which traverse the cry-
stalline tract. When we descend to Lake Winipeg, we come upon
epidotic slates, conglomerates, sandstones, and trap-rocks, which bear
a close resemblance tu those of the mining district of Pigeon Bay on
* The following list is given by Dr. Bigsby: a small Phacops, small Orthoce-
rata, minute Encrinital columns, Favosites Gothlandica, Cyathophyllum, Murchi-
sonia, Pentamerus Knightii, Leptena, Avicula, Atrypa, and Spirifer. Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. viii. p. 405.
1855. ] ISBISTER—NORTH AMERICA, ETC. 507
Lake Superior. After passing the straits of Lake Winipeg, we have
granitic rocks on the east shore and Silurian rocks on the west and
north, the basin of the lake being mostly excavated in the limestone.
The granite and gneiss which form the east shore of Lake Winipeg
strike off at its N.E. corner, and, passing to the north of Moose
Lake, go on to Beaver Lake, where the boat-route again touches
upon them. The extension of the limestone in a westerly direction
from Lake Winipeg has not been ascertained ; but it has been traced
as far up the Saskatchewan as Carlton House, where it is at least
280 miles in breadth. Beyond this it is either succeeded or covered
by cliffs of calcareous clay, which bear some resemblance to those
found along the banks of the upper portions of the Missouri, toge-
ther with saliferous marls and beds of gypsum.
Skirting the base of the Rocky Mountains a remarkable lignite
formation is met with, which is said to extend through the valley of
the Mississippi and of Mackenzie River as far north as the Arctic Sea.
The limestone of Lake Winipeg, which undoubtedly covers a vast
tract of country, may in genera! be characterized as compact and
splintery, and of a yellowish-white colour, passing into buff, and
sometimes of an ash-grey, mottled, or banded with patches of light
brown. In the district between Lake Winipeg and the Saskatchewan,
more particularly examined by the Arctic Expeditions of Franklin
and Back which passed through it on their way to the Arctic Sea,
the limestone strata were found to be almost everywhere extensively
exposed, and to be remarkably free from intrusive rocks. Professor
Jameson enumerates Terebratule, Orthocerata, Encrinites, Caryo-
phyllite, and Lingule, as the organic remains brought to England
by Franklin’s First Expedition; Mr. Stokes and Mr. Sowerby ex-
amined those fossils which were procured on the Second Expedition,
and found amengst them Terebratulites, Spirifers, Corallines, and
Maclurites. The Maclurites were probably the Maclurea magna
of Le Sueur and Hall. Sir John Richardson has recently brought
home from the same quarter a fine specimen of the Receptaculites
neptunii,—a fossil, which, though it occurs abundantly in some of the
Devonian beds of the Eifel, is with the Maclurite characteristic in
Canada, as in New York, of the Lower Silurian.
Along the southern shores of Lake Winipeg and in the Valley of
the Red River, where the limestone rises in solid ledges from the
surrounding prairies, and has been extensively quarried for building
purposes, it has been distinctly identified as belonging to that forma-
tion by Dr. Dale Owen, Director of the Geological Survey of Wiscon-
sin and Minnesota, who in the course of his explorations visited the
small colony settled there by the Hudson’s Bay Company. In his
recently published Report, Dr. Dale enumerates the following fossils
procured by him from the quarries at Red River and from Lake
Winipeg :—
1. Favosites basaltica.
2. Coscinopora sulcata.
3. Cheetetes lycoperdon. . —— alternata.
4, Pleurorhynchus, sp. —— planoconvexa :
VOL. XI.—PART I. 2™M
. Ormoceras Brongniarti.
. Leptena sericea? +
oo Moree)
508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 16,
9. Calymene senaria. 17. Pleurorhynchus ?
10. Pleurotomaria lenticularis ? 18. Cephalic shield of a Trilobite
11, —— muralis f. allied to Illenus arcturus Tt.
12. Orthis, sp. ¢ 19. Pustulated cephalic shield of an
13. Lingula, sp. T Illznus ft.
14. Terebratula, sp. T 20. Conularia, sp.
15. Cytherina ? f 21. Several specimens of the shield
16. Syringopora. of Illenus crassicauda.
Note.—Those marked f are figured in Dr. Owen’s Atlas of Illustrations.
Many of these, Dr. Owen states, “are identically the same fossils
as occur in the lower part of ‘ Formation No. 3.’ in Wisconsin and
Iowa, in the blue limestones of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and also in
the Lower Silurian of Europe. The Coscinopora is precisely the
same as the coral which is particularly characteristic of the lower
beds of the Upper Magnesian Limestone of Wisconsin. The speci-
mens of Favosites basaltica cannot be distinguished from those
which abound im the Upper Magnesian Limestone of Wisconsin and.
Iowa and the Lower Coralline beds of the Falls of the Ohio.”
It has been noticed that the limestones of this formation are di-
stinguished by two different tints of colour. From the following
analyses of the two varieties published by Dr. Owen, it would appear
that they differ also considerably in their mineralogical character.
Analysis of the Compact Limestone | Spotted and banded Limestone, con-
from Red River, containing Leptena. taining Coscinopora.
Carbonate of Lime ............00 53°7 | Carbonate of Lime............00... 78°1
Carbonate of Magnesia ........... 40°5 | Carbonate of Magnesia............ 17°8
Insoluble matter... s+ssnsosseasseus 0:8. | Insoluble matter; 0... .s.s0ssasevncr 1:0
Alumina, Oxide of Iron, and Alumina, Oxide of Iron, and
Manganese: 3.0ue..---ee.areeee <> 4:0 Manganese ...cJe..cuscseoesesses 1°4
Water andi Boss 222). icsceevassnees 1°0) 1. Water and doss.. Fr 794 i, dniiier pail?
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571
DONATIONS
TO THE
LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
From April \st, 1855, to June 30th, 1855.
I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.
AMERICAN Journal of Science and Art. 2nd Ser. vol. xix. No. 56.
March 1855.
J. L. Smith.—Meteorites, 153.
Lachlan.— Periodical rise and fal] of the Lakes, 164.
N. von Kokscharov.—The Clinochlore of Achmatorosk, 176.
M. Tuomey.—Copper mines at Duck Town, Tennessee, 181. ’
‘H. R. Schooleraft.— Discovery of a Coal-basin on the Western
border of the Lake of the Woods, 232.
H. B. Geinitz’s Darstellung der Flora des Hainichen-Ebersdorfer
und des Fléhaer Kohlenbassins, 271.
E. D. North.—The “‘ Fountain of Blood”? of Honduras, 287.
Dufrénoy.—Large Diamond from Brazil, 288.
Roret.—Line of perpetual snow in the Alps, 290.
C. M. Wetherill.—Gold found near Reading, U.S., 290.
Obituary Notice of Prof. E. Forbes, 290.
No. 57. May 1855.
J. L. Smith.—Memoir on Meteorites, 322.
J.C. as he eae aa tooth in Mastodon giganteus,
349.
J.D. Dana.—Supplement to ‘ Dana’s Mineralogy,’ No. I., 353.
Murchison’s ‘ Siluria,’ review of, 371.
C. H. Hitcheock.—Tracks on clay, in Hadley, Mass., 391.
Simmons on American Geology, 397.
T. S. Hunt.—Mineralogical Notes, Meteorite, Nickel, &c., 416,
428.
Mineralogical, Geological, Bibliographical, and Miscellaneous
Notices.
No. 58. July 1855.
E. Hitchcock, junr.—New species of Clathropteris from the Con-
necticut Valley sandstone, 22.
Lachlan.—Periodical rise and fall of the Lakes, 45.
J. D. Whitney.— Mineral veins and East Tennessee copper-mines,
53.
W. P. Blake.—Gold Region of California, and crystalline gold, 72.
J. W. Mallet.—Idocrase from Duck Town, Tenn., 85.
J.P. Yandell.—Acrocrinus; a new genusof Crinoids, 135 (figure).
Mineralogical, Geological, Bibliographical, and Miscellaneous
Notices.
VOL. XI.—PART I. 2Q
572 DONATIONS.
Atheneum Journal, for March, April, May, June. From C. W.
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Notices of Meetings.
Bengal Asiatic Society, Journal. New Series, No. 70. 1854, No. 7.
W. Theobald.—Geology of the Punjab Salt Range, 651.
H. Piddington.—Analysis of Coal from Ava, 714.
—. No. 71. 1855, No. 1.
Berlin. Monatsbericht der K. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften zu
Berlm. August-December, 1854.
Beyrich.—Position of the Hesse Tertiaries, 640.
Ehrenberg.—Microscopic examination of the soils of Ceylon,
India, and Mauritius, 704.
H. Rose.—Water of crystallization in some double salts, 523.
G. Rose.—Meteorite found near Linum, 525.
Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, Proceedings. Vol. in. No. 5.
G. Tate.—Geology of Powburn, 194.
British Museum, Catalogues of the Collections in the.
List of the Osteological Specimens. 1847.
Catalogue of the Specimens of Mammalia.
Part I.—Cetacea. 1850.
Part II.—Seals. 1850.
Part I1I.—Ungulata Fureipeda. 1852.
Catalogue of the Genera and Subgeuera of Birds. 1855.
Catalogue of Specimens of Amphibia.
Part II.—-Batrachia Gradientia, &e. 1850.
Catalogue of Fish collected and described by Laurence Theodore
Gronow. 1854.
List of the Specimens of Fish.
Part I.—Chondropterygii. 1851.
Catalogue of Phaneropneumona, or Terrestrial Operculated Mol-
luseca. 1852.
Catalogue of Pulmonata, or Air-breathing Mollusca.
Part I. 1855.
Catalogue of the Bivalve Mollusca.
Part 1.—Placentadz and Anomiade. 1850.
Catalogue of the Conchifera, or Bivalve Shells.
Part I.—Veneride, Cyprinide, and Glauconomide. 1853.
List of the Mollusca and Shells collected and described by MM.
Eydoux and Souleyet in the ‘ Voyage autour du Monde,’
exécuté pendant les années 1836 et 1837 sur la Corvette
‘La Bonite,” and in the ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Mollusques
Ptéropodes, par MM. Rang et Souleyet.? 1855.
Catalogue of the Mollusca.
Part IV.—Brachiopoda Ancylopoda, or Lamp Shells. 1853.
List of the Shells of South America collected and described by
M. Alcide D’Orbigny in the ‘Voyage dans l’Amérique
Méridionale.’ 1854.
List of the Shells of the Canaries collected and described by
MM. Webb and Berthelot. Described and figured by Prof.
Alcide D’Orbigny in the ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Iles Cana-
ries.” 18547) J
List of the Shells of Cuba collected by M. Ramon De La Sagra.
Described by Prof. Alcide D’Orbigny in the ‘ Histoire de
PIle de Cuba.’ 1854.
or
N
ww
DONATIONS.
British Museum, Catalogues (continued).
Catalogue of Marine Polyzoa.
Part I.—Cheilostomata. 1852.
Part IJ.—Cheilostomata. 1854.
Catalogue of the Recent Echinida, or Sea Eggs.
Part I.—Kchinida Irregularia. 1855.
Catalogue of the Species of Entozoa, or Intestinal Worms. 1853.
Catalogue of Lepidopterous Insects.
Part I.—Papilionide. (4°.) 1852.
Part I.—Lepidoptera Heterocera. 1854.
Part 11.—Lepidoptera Heterocera. 1854.
Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects.
Part I.—Andrenidez and Apide. 1853.
Part Il—Apide. 1854.
Part I1I.—Mutillidz and Pompilide. 1855.
Catalogue of the Specimens of Neuropterous Insects.
Part I.—Phryganide—Perlides. 1852.
Part II.—Sialide—Nemopterides. 1853.
Part I11.—Termitide—Ephemeride. 1853.
Part 1V.—Odonata. 1853.
List of the Specimens of Hemipterous Insects.
Part I. - 1851. Part II. 1852.
List of the Specimens of Homopterous Insects.
Part I. 1850. Part III. 1851.
Part IJ. 1851. warteiv. 1852.
List of the Coleopterous Insects.
Part I.—Cucujide, &c. 1851.
Nomenclature of the Coleopterous Insects.
Part VI.—Passalide. 1852.
Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects.
Part VII.—Longicornia, pt. 1. 1853.
List of the Specimens of Dipterous Insects.
Part V. Supplement I. 1854.
Part VI. Supplement II. 1854.
Part VII. Supplement III. 1855.
List of the specimens of British Animals.
Part T1I.—Birds. 1850.
Part [V.—Crustacea. 1850.
Part V.—Lepidoptera. 1850.
Part VI.—Hymenoptera Aculeata. 1851.
Part VII.—Mollusca Acephala and Brachiopoda. 1851.
Part VIJI.—Fish. 1851.
Part IX.—Eggs of British Birds. 1852.
Part X.—Lepidoptera (continued). 1852.
Part XI.—Anoplura, or Parasitic Insects. 1852.
Part XII.—Lepidoptera (contmued). 1852.
Part XIII.—Nomenclature of Hymenoptera. 1853.
Part XIV.—Nomenclature of Neuroptera. 1853.
Part XV.—Nomenclature of Diptera, pt. 1. 1853.
Part X VI.—Lepidoptera (completed). 1854.
Calcutta Public Library, Report for 1854.
Canadian Journal. February 1855.
W. Hopkins.—Effects of pressure on the temperature of fusion
of different substances, 159.
G. P. Airy.—Pendulum experiments in Harton pit, 166.
2a2
574 DONATIONS.
Canadian Journal (continued). .
Fairbairn.—Solidification of bodies under great pressure, 172.
S. Macadam.—Geysers of Iceland, 173.
Dr. Whitty.—Anthracite of Cavan, 173.
————. March 1855.
Prof. Ehrenberg.—Silurian microscopic shells, 193.
Earthquake (8th Feb. 1855) in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
Prince Edward Island, 197.
————.._ April 1855.
R. Lachlan. Sudden fall in the waters of the Niagara River, 204.
W. Longmaid.—Peat and other vegetable charcoal, 217.
Canadian Marble, 221.
J. A. Phillips.—Separation of silver from lead, 221.
Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal, No. 29. Vol. viii. No. 1.
April 1855.
—, No. 30. Vol. vii. pt. 2. July 1855.
R. D. Thomson.—Chemical composition of the waters of London,
Civil Engineers and Architects’ Journal. No. 253. Vol. xviii.
April. 1855.
_ C. Norton.—Report on coal-mines of York, Derby, Nottingham,
Leicester, and Warwick, 113.
Ancient usage of coal as fuel, 130.
No. 254. Vol. xvi. May 1855.
W. Lancaster and R. Williams.—Report on coal-mines im
Scotland, 151.
T. Wynne.—Report on coal-mines of Staffordshire, Worcester-
shire, and Shropshire, 151.
Probable existence of coal in the steppes of Hungary, 177.
Gold-fields in Peru, 177.
Dublin Geological Society, Journal, vol. vi. pt. 2. 1854-55.
Wyley, A. On the character and mode of occurrence of the
dolomitic rocks of Kilkenny (map), 109.
Haughton, Prof.—On the iron ores of Carnarvonshire, 128.
Kelley, J—On the drift of the district about Rathfarnham in
the county of Dublin (map), 133.
Galbraith, J. A., Prof.—On the different analyses of Killinite, 165.
Haughton, S.—Notes on the Laganure mines (map), 168.
Jukes, J. B.—On an outlier of carboniferous limestone, at
Taghmon, in the county of Wexford, 178.
Willson, W. L.—Note on Mr. Triphook’s paper “On the
Geology of the neighbourhood of Skull,” 182.
Jacob, A.—Account of a reconnaissance of the Nurbudda valley
in Central India, 183.
Lloyd, J.—Notice of a seam of fossiliferous limestone in the
millstone grit of the county of Clare, 186.
Whitty, J. 1—Notice of the anthracite found in the Silurian
rocks in the county of Cavan, 187.
Griffith, R.—On the copper-beds of the south coast of the county
of Cork, 195.
.Haughton, Prof.—Notes on the mining district of Kenmare, 206.
DONATIONS. 575
Dublin Geological Society, Journal (continued).
Cotton, C. P.—On the limestone troughs of Ardmore and Lis-
more, county of Waterford, 215.
Welland, J. W.—Note on the carboniferous limestone of
Midleton, county of Cork, 217.
Triphook, T. D.—On tke occurrence of sulphate of barytes in
the south-west of the county of Cork, 218.
Galbraith, J. AA—On the composition of the feldspar of the
Dublin and Wicklow granite, 226.
Haughton, Prof.—On the evidence afforded by fossil plants as to
the boundary-line between the Devonian and Carboniferous
rocks, 227.
Griffith, R.—Remarks on Prof. Haughton’s paper, 240.
J. B. Jukes.—Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting,
February 14, 1855, 252.
France. Société Géologique, Bulletin, 2 Série. Tome xi. feuill.
46-50.
Réunion extraordinaire 4 Valence, 715.
——. ——._ Tome xii. 1855, feuill. 1-3.
A. de la Marmora.—Sur la carte géologique de la Sardaigne ,11.
Ch. Lory.—Note sur le terrain nummulitique du département
des Hautes-Alpes, 17.
Gaillardot.—Observations recueillies dans les Monts Libans, 32.
D’Omalius d’Halloy.—Sur la théorie des éjaculations, 36.
A. Boué.—Extrait de sa brochure: Le but et lutilité de la
géologie, 1851, 46.
Cornuel.—Sur la découverte de plusieurs coquilles d’eau douce
dans le terrain néocomien de la Champagne, 47.
Feuill. 4—7.
Lockhart.—Sur une moitié de machoire fossile de Mastodonte,
Meugy.—Sur les caractéres du terrain de craie dans les départe-
ments du Nord, de |’Aisne et des Ardennes (pl. 1), 54.
Bourjot.—Note sur le terrain de transition des Pyrénées, et plus
particuliérement de la vallée d’Ossau, 68.
Triger.—Sur l’oolite inférieure d’Angleterre et celle du départe-
ment de la Sarthe, 73.
E. Hébert.—Note sur le terrain jurassique du bord occidental
du bassin parisien, 79.
K. Schlumberger.—Sur les cailloux impressionnés, 87.
E. Renevier.—Parallélisme des terrains crétacés inférieurs de
Varrondissement de Vassy (Haute-Marne) avec ceux de la
Suisse occidentale, 89.
Etude stratigraphique du terrain nummulitique des
Alpes vaudoises et valaisannes, 97.
Vicomte d’Archiac et Jules Haime.—Sommaire de la deuxiéme
livraison de la Description des animaux fossiles du groupe
nummulitique de |’Inde, 104.
A. Boué.—Extrait d’une lettre sur l’ancienneté des éruptions
volcaniques, 109.
Rigollot et divers.—Observations sur des instruments en silex
trouvés 4 Saint-Acheul, prés d’Amiens, 112.
; Feuill. 8-11.
Abich.—Notes géologiques sur diverses parties de la Russie, 118.
576 DONATIONS.
France. Société Géologique, Bulletin (continued).
K. Schlumberger.—Sur deux variétés d’Ammonites (pl. 2 et 3),
118.
H. Coquand.—Description géologique du terrain permien du
département de |’Aveyron et de celui des environs de Lodéve
(Hérault) (pl. 4), 128.
Th. Ebray.— Note sur les banes pourris des carriéres, 152.
J. Barrande.—Sur Ascoceras, prototype des Nauiilides (pl. 5),
157.
Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, Journal. 3rd Series.
Vol. xxix. No. 2. Feb. 1855.
No. 3. March 1855.
Wilson.—The iron of the United States, 201.
Pendulum test of the earth’s mass, 207.
Notice of Waile’s Report on the geology of Mississippi, 216.
No. 4. April 1855.
—-—. No.5. May 1855.
F. C. Calvert.—Products from coal, 332.
Horticultural Society of London. Vol. ix. pt. 4. 1855.
(Se ee
Institute of Actuaries, Assurance Magazine and Journal of the.
No. 19. vol. v. pt. 3. April 1855.
No. 20. vol. v. pt. 4. July 1855.
Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. Nos. 7-9
(in one). July—Sept. 1854.
————. Vol. viii. Nos. 10-12 (in one).
G. F. de B. Kops.—Rhiolingga Archipelago (map), 386.
Literary Gazette for April, May, June. From L. Reeve, Esq., F.G.S.
Notices of Meetings.
Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, Proceedings. No. 1.
1845.
Hale.—Geology of part of Alabama, U.S., 74.
Hume.—Submarine forest at Leasowe, 97.
Cunningham.—Section of the coal basin of the Dee (pl.), 108.
——. No.2. 1846.
Hume and Cunningham.—Geology of Stourton, 52.
Hume.—Antiquities from the submarine forest at Hoylake (pl.),
——. No.3. 1847.
Cunningham.—Geological conformation of the neighbourhood of
Liverpool, as respects the supply of water, 58.
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine. 4th Ser.
No. 59. April 1855. From R. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S.
M. F. Heddle and R. P. Grey.—British Pectolites, 248.
S. Haughton.—Mica of the granites of Dublin, Wicklow, and
Carlow, 272.
G. B. Airy.—Pendulum experiments for ascertaining the mean
density of the earth, 309.
Daubrée.—Artificial production of minerals, 315.
DONATIONS. 577
London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Phil. Mag. (continued).
No. 60. May 1855.
T. S. Hunt.—Examinations of felspathic rocks, 354.
—-— On the mineral Wilsonite, 382.
G. B. Airy.—Attraction of mountain-masses, 394.
MM. Schlagintweit.—Temperatures and density of sea-waters,
. No. 61. June 1855.
J. Wilson.—Alum manufacture, 413.
M. F. Heddle.—Tablespar from the Morne Mountain, 452.
L. Horner.—Geology of Egypt, 465.
New York, Annals of the Lyceum of. Vol. v. No. 2. April 1851.
Oxford. Ashmolean Society, Proceedings, vol. i. (Nos. 1-19) ; for
1832-1842. 1844.
J. Brown.—Geology of Essex coast, xvii. 13.
Buckland and Daubeny.—Caverns near Cork, ix. 7.
Buckland.—Fossil footsteps, x1. 9.
Sivatherium, xi. 2].
Fossil bones from the Siwalie Hills, xiv. 1.
Fossil rain-prints and ripples, xvi. 5.
Landshp near Exmouth, xvii. 3.
Glacial theory, xvil. 22; xviii. 17.
Agency of animalcules in forming limestone, xvii. 35.
Missouri Leviathan, xvii. 3.
Drying up of the Compensation Pond, xix. 5.
C. Daubeny.—Vesuvius and volcanic agency, vi. 9.
Rocks at Adersbach, Silesia, xi. 10.
— Geology of United States and Canada, xv. 9.
Notice of Boué’s Geology of Turkey, xvii. 27.
Ruskin and Buckland.—Landslip near Castle-a-mare, xvi. 46.
H. E. Strickland.—Bone-bed near Tewkesbury, xvii. 15.
— —. Vol. ii. (Nos. 20-29) ; for 1843-52. 1854.
Buckland.—Bones in fissures in the Isle of Portland, 54, 60.
Ichthyopatolites, 21.
— Dinornis bones, 18.
— Dicynodon, 81.
Daubeny.—Fluoric acid from recent and fossil bones, 39, 58.
Fossil phosphate of lime, 187, 196.
—_— Fossil fish, 204.
— Fossil vine; grapes, and leaves, 302.
o— Dolomites, 316.
—— Scandinavia, 330.
Fallati.— Mineral springs of the Black Forest, 115.
S. Maskelyne.—dZine, iron, and copper ores, 299.
Dolomites, 316.
A. B. Orlebar.—New species of Pygaster from Bullington Quar-
ries, 242.
nanan
Geology of the neighbourhood of Oxford, 253.
H. E. Strickland.—Aérolites, 125.
Geology of the Oxford and Rugby railway, 192.
— Footprints of extinct animals, 321.
Prof. Twiss.—Glaciers, 6.
Analysis of recent and fossil bones, 74.
T. Way.—Fossil phosphate of lime, 1865.
578
DONATIONS.
Oxford. Ashmolean Society, Proceedings (continued).
No. 31. 1853.
J. C. Clutterbuck.—Intermittent springs of the chalk districts, 5.
H. E. Strickland.— Pleistocene deposits near Oxford, 9.
C. Daubeny.—Lavas of Mount Etna, 20.
2" No. 32.0 1854:
M. H. Maskelyne.—Chemical history of silica, 41.
Paleeontographical Society, Monographs. 1855.
Paris.
T.Davidson.—British cretaceous Brachiopoda(with Appendix, &e.).
R. Owen.—Reptilia of the Wealden, pt. 2.
J. Morris and J. Lycett.—Mollusea of the great Oolite, pt. 3.
M.-Edwards and J. Haime.—British Silurian corals.
C. Darwin.—British fossil Balanide and Verrucide.
D. Sharpe.—Mollusca of the chalk of England, pt. 2.
F. Edwards.—British Eocene Mollusca, pt. 3. No. 1.
L’ Académie des Sciences, Comptes rendus. (Index to vol.
xxxvil.) Tome xl. 1855. Prem. Sem. Nos. 4-17
Ch. Ste Claire Deville.—Etudes de lithologie, 177.
A. Langel.—Dnu clivage des roches, 182, 978.
Le tremblement de terre de la nuit du 28 au 29 Déc. dernier, 194,
Recherches sur les Crinoides par MM. De Koninck et Lehou.
G. B. Greenough.—Sur la géologie de l’Inde, 347.
A. de Sismonda.—Sur la géologie de certaines parties de la
Toscane, 352.
Boutigny.— Sur Vorigine de la houille, 476.
Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire—Deux ceufs d’Epyornis, 518.
Constant Prevost, E. Hébert, Lartel, Valenciennes, E. de
Beaumont, Dumeril, et De Roys.—Sur un tibia d’un oiseau
gigantesque (Gastornis parisiensis), trouvé a la base de
Pargile plastique a Meudon, 554, 579, 582, 616, 619, 649,
856. ;
L. Agassiz.—Sur les rapports entre la faune actuelle et les faunes
précédentes des époques géologiques, 634.
E. de Verneuil, E. Collomb, et De Loriére.—Le Tableau orogra-
phique d’une partie de l Espagne, 726, 814.
E. de Verneuil et Constant Prevost—Sur un Mémoire de M. J
Marcou relatif a la classification des chaines d’une partie de
lAmérique du Nord, 734, 741, 756, 763.
Brongniart, Edwards, Boussingault.—La géographie physique et
la géologie du Chili (M. Cl. Gay), 743.
Pissis.—Sur la structure orographique des Andes du Chili, 764.
Ch. Deville-—Sur le densité de quelques substances (quartz,
coryndon, métaux, &c.) aprés fusion et refroidissement.
rapide, 769.
Constant Prevost.— Sur le mot “soulévement,” 812.
A. Pomel.—Sur le pays des Beni-bou-Said prés les frontiéres du
Maroc, 882.
B. de Lom.—Gisement de gemmes et de fossiles découvert récem-
ment dans deux communes de la Haute Loire, 885.
A. Damour.—Sur la composition de I’ Euklase, 942.
Malaguti et Durocher.—Sur le granite de Bomarsund, 968.
E. Deslongchamps.—Sur les traces d’animaux a la surface d’une
roche de grés, pres Argentau, 972.
DONATIONS. o79
Paris. L’Académie des Sciences, Comptes rendus (continued).
H. de Villeneuve.—Du dramage en France dans ses rapports
avec la géologie et la météorologie, 975.
E. Gueymard.—Sur les gites de nickel dans le département de
l’Isére, 984.
Paris. L’Ecole des Mines. Annales des Mines. Cing. Sér. Tome iv.
Liv. 4.
Gras, S.—Note sur le but et les moyens d’exécution des cartes
agronomiques, l.
Damour.—Note sur la composition de l’andalousite, 53.
Guerngross.—Essai sur l’extraction du cuivre dans les mattes
plombeuses de la fonderie d’argent de Zméinogorsk (Altai),59.
Debette, Ph.—Notice sur les mines de la Bigorre, Hautes-Pyré-
nées (plate), 91.
Sénarmont, de. — Extraits de minéralogie (travaux de 1852)
(plate), 129.
a MAN.
Ebelmen. —Recherches sur de nouvelles méthodes de cristalliza-
tion par la voie séche, et sur leur application a la reproduction
des espéces minérales, 173.
Recherches sur les altérations des roches stratifiées
sous l’influence des agents atmosphériques et des eaux d’in-
filtration, 188.
Meissonnier.—Note sur un moyen de lever sans boussole la
direction de couches des terrains (plate), 193.
. —— . Liv. 6.
Damour, A.—Note sur l’argent iodé du Chili, 329.
Parran.—Notice sur un gisement d’asphalte aux environs d’Alais
(plate), 334.
Delesse.—Examen de quelques minéraux, 351.
Crouzet et de Freycinet.—Etude géologique sur le bassin de
Adour (plate), 361.
—_— Note sur les mines auriféres de Saint-Laurent
situées dans le Bas-Canada (district de Québec), 483.
Sur la fabrication du cuivre blanc en Chine, 510.
— Sur la situation des mines d’argent et de cuivre
du Chili, et le mouvement d’exportation de leurs produits en
1840 et 1852, 518.
Sur les mimes enregistrées et classées dans la
province de Cardoue (Nouvelle-Grenade) du 5 Janvier 1852
au 30 Juillet 1853, 521.
Sur la découverte d’un gisement de houille dans
les Philippines, 525.
——-.. Tome v. Liv. |. 2
Basso —Nouvelles analyses de l’hureaulithe, 1.
Huyot, E.—Notice sur la mine et lusine d’Idria, Carniole
(plate), 7.
Gueymard, E.— Recherches analytiques du platine dans les
Alpes, 165.
Liv. 2.
Duebanoy. —Mémoire sur les gisements des minerais de cuivre et
leur traitement métallurgique dans le centre de la Norwége
(plate), 181.
580 DONATIONS.
Paris. L’Ecole des Mines. Annales des Mines (continued).
-———_. ————.. Tome vv. Liv. 3.
Gras, Scipio.— Mémoire sur le terrain anthraxifére des Alpes de la
France et de la Savoie (map), 473.
Sur Vindustrie minérale du pays d’Annam (plate),
603.
Sur l’importation et l’exportation du fer en Angle-
terre pendant l’année 1852, 621.
Photographic Society, Journal. Nos. 28-30. 1855.
Royal Agricultural Society of England, Journal. Vol. xi. part 1.
1850.
H. S. Thompson.—Absorbent power of soils, 68.
J. Bravendar.— Farming of Gloucestershire (map and sections), 116.
J. T. Way.—Power of soils to absorb manure, 313.
Royal Geographical Society, Journal. General Index to the first Ten
Volumes, 1844.
: Vol. xvii. part 2. 1847.
—. ————.. Vol. xxiv. 1854.
Royal Institution of Great Britain, List of Members, &c., with Re-
port of the Visitors, for the year 1854. 1855.
Royal Society, List of Fellows, 1854.
Transactions. Vol. 144. parts 1&2. 1854.
—-——. Proceedings. Vol. vii. No. 11.
; : No. 42.
H. Moseley.—On the Descent of Glaciers, 333.
Society of Arts, Journal. Nos. 102-133.
Statistical Society of London, List of Fellows. 1855-56.
ee ee
Objects and Regulations of the. 1855.
————. Journal. Vol. xvii. part 2. June 1855.
Turin. Reale Accademia deile Scienze di Torino, Memorie. Serie
Seconda. Tomo xiv. 1854.
Yorkshire Philosophical Society, Annual Report for 1854.
—. Proceedings. Vol.1i. 1855.
James Yates.—Fossil Zamia (figures), 37.
W. C. Williamson.—Fossil Zamia (figures), 45.
KE. Charlesworth.—Zoophytes of the Flamborough chalk (plate), 73.
J. Phillips.—Ancient metallurgy and mining in Britain, 77.
P. C. Sorby.—Sandstones of the oolites of Yorkshire, 111.
Zeitung fiir Bibliotheken und Biicherfreunde. No.1. 1855.
DONATIONS. 581
II. GEOLOGICAL CONTENTS OF PERIODICALS
PURCHASED FOR THE LIBRARY.
Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 2nd Ser. vol. xv. No. 88.
April 1855.
T. Wright.—Fossil Echinoderms, &c., of Malta (plate), 262.
J. S. Henslow.—Fossil oyster-shell, 314.
———. No. 89. May 1855.
————. No. 90. June 1855.
J. Lycett. Perna quadrata of Sowerby (figure), 427.
Dunker und Von Meyer’s Palzeortographica. Vol.v. No. 1. 1855.
F. A. Roemer.—Beitrage zur geologischen Kenntniss des Nord-
westlichen Harzgebirges (3rd part). With 8 plates anda
coloured geological map.
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. New Series. No. 2.
April 1855.
C. Maclaren.—Ancient morains in Argyleshire, 189.
G. Buist.—The principal depressions on the surface of the
globe, 253.
W.S. Symonds.—Geological range of the Pterygotus problema-
ticus, 269.
Shoals of dead fish at sea, 271.
R. Harkness.—Fossil Annelid-tracks in the county of Clare
(plate), 278.
G. Wilson.—Notice of Prof. E. Forbes, 307.
F. Roemer’s Die Kreidebildung Westphalens, 336.
D’Archiac’s Coupe Géologique des Environs des Bains de Rennes,
336.
Proceedings of Naturalists’ Clubs, 345.
D. Page’s Introductory Text-book of Geology, 348.
P. C. Sutherland.—Natal Geology, 350.
T. Oldham.—Himalayan Geology, 351.
E. Blackwell.— Movement of glaciers in winter, 356.
M. F. Heddle.—Oxalates (of iron and of lime) in the mineral
kmgdom, 365.
A. Geikie.—Liassic fossils from Pabba and Skye, 366.
A. Bryson.—Worm-tracks in Silurian slates, 368.
Diatomacez in the Silurian slates of Scotland, 368.
M. F. Heddle.—Analysis of Datholite from Glen Farg, 369.
Hugh Miller.—Destruction of some littoral molluses by frost, 369.
Petzholdt.—Cause of the grey colour in Dolomite and other
Neptunian rocks, 377.
S. von Walterhausen.—Mineralogy of the Dolomite of the Alps,
386.
Remarkable Brazilian diamond, 387.
L. Horner.—Relative levels of Red Sea and Mediterranean, 388.
Royle.—-Uprise m the South Sea Islands, 388.
Karsten und von Dechen’s Archiv fir Min. Geog. Band _xxvi.
Zweites Heft. 1855.
Index for vols. xxi, to xxvi., 3.
582 DONATIONS.
Karsten und von Dechen’s Archiv (continued).
Systematic Index of subjects in all the 46 volumes of both series
of the “ Archives,” 108.
Sketch of C. J. B. Karsten’s Life and Works, with Appendices, 197
(with Portrait).
Leonhard und Bronn’s Neues Jahrbuch fiir Min., Geog., Geol. und
Petref. 1854. 7 Heft.
G. H. O. Volger.—Die Halblichkeit des Warflings und des
Knochlings beim Boracit, 769.
A. Breithaupt. — Ueber den Schneckenstein von Sachsischen
Voigtlande, 787.
Letters: Notices of Books, Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils.
———. 1855. 1 Heft.
R. A. Philippi.—Ueber das Vorkommen des Meteoreisens in der
Wiiste Atacama, 1.
N. von Kokscharow.—Ueber den Klinochlore von Achmatowsk
(plate), 9.
B. Cotte.—Geologische Mittheilungen aus der Bukowina, 25.
K. Martens.—Kalk-tuff- Bildung und Einfluss der Gyps-Quellen
im Thale zwischen Elm und Asse, 33.
Letters: Notices of Books, Mineralogy, Geology, and Fossils.
Ill. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names of Donors in Italics.
Ansted, D. T. An Elementary Course of Geology, Mineralogy, and
Physical Geography.
———
Scenery, Science, and Art; being Extracts from the
Note-Book of a Geologist and Mining Engineer.
Barrande, J. Ascoceras, prototype des Nautilides.
Bright, R. Lecture on Namaqualand and its Mines. From H.
Hewitt, Esq., Jun.
Chapman, E. J. On the Object of the Salt Condition of the Sea.
Darwin, C. A Monograph on the Fossil Balanidee and Verrucide of
Great Britain.
Davidson, T. A Monograph of British Cretaceous Brachiopoda.
Part 2. &e.
Delesse, A. Sur la Pegmatite de l’Irlande.
Sur l’action des Alcalis sur Jes roches.
Deslongchamps, E. Notice sur des Empreintes ou Traces d’ Animaux
existant 4 la surface d’une roche de grés, prés Argentau.
Erdmann, Prof. Exel. Viagledning till Bergarternas Kannedom.
DONATIONS. 583
Forrester, J. J. Relation des Objets expédiés a |’ Exposition Uni-
verselle de Paris.
Relation des Objets expédiés a Exposition Universelle
de Paris par les Fils de J. J. Forrester.
Ganges Canal, short account of. From Col. Sir P. T. Cautley, F.G.S.
Goebel, A. Der heilsame Meereschlamm an den Kisten der Insel
Oesel.
Goeppert, H.R. Die Tertiare Flora von Schlossnitz in Schlesien.
From His Prussian Majesty's Minister in Berlin.
Griffith, W. Posthumous Papers, bequeathed to the Hon. East
India Company, by the late William Griffith, F.L.S., arranged
by J. M‘Clelland, F.L.S.
Palms of British East India.
Itinerary Notes of Plants collected in the Kasyah and Bootan
Mountains, in Affghanistan.
Journals of Travel in Assam, Burmah, Bootan, Affghanistan, and
neighbouring countries.
Notulze ad Plantas Asiaticas, Partes 1, 2, 3, 4.
From the Directors of the Hon. East India Company.
Harkness, R. On Annelids’ Tracks in the Equivalents of the
Millstone Grits in the south-west of the County of Clare.
Hébert, E. Note sur le Terrain Jurassique du Bord Occidental du
Bassin Parisien.
——_——.. Note sur le Tibia du Gastornis parisiensis.
—————. Sur une nouvelle extension, dans le Bassin de Paris, des
Marnes lacustres et des Sables de Rilly.
Magnetical and Meteorological Observations made at the Hon. East
India Company’s Observatory at Bombay in 1851. From the
Directors of the Hon. East India Company.
Mantell, G. A. The Medals of Creation, 2nd edit., 2 vols.
Edited by T. Rupert Jones. From R. N. Mantell, Esq.
Marcou, J. Sur le Gisement de l’Or en Californie.
Moore, Charles. On new Brachiopoda from the Inferior Oolite of
Dundry, &c.
Perrey, A. Circulaire relative a l Observation des Tremblements de
Terre, adressée 4 tous les Voyageurs.
————. Documents relatifs aux Tremblements de Terre au Chili.
Note sur les Tremblements de Terre en 1853.
Pictet, F. J. Traité de Paléontologie, ou Histoire Naturelle des
Animaux Fossiles. 2nd edit. vol. 3rd, with Atlas of Plates.
584 DONATIONS.
Schmidt, C. Die Salzquellen zu Staraja-Russa.
Sturz, J. D. A Estrada de Ferro do Semmering nos Alpes Noricos
da Austria.
Recapitulacao das Informacoes relativas a assumptas de
Topographia, de Geodesia e de Medicoes Trigonometricas e
geralmente de Medicoes de Terras durante os Annos 1852 até
54 remettidas.
Theodori, C. Beschreibung des Ichthyosaurus trigonodon in der
Lokal-Petrefakten-Sammlung zu Banz. With Atlas of Plates.
From Sir R. I. Murchison, V.P.G.S.
Verneuil, E. de. Rapport sur un Mémoire de M. Jules Marcou,
relatif 4 la Classification des Chaines des Montagnes d’une
partie de l Amérique du Nord.
, E.Collomb, et De Loriére. Notes pour accompagner le
Tableau Orographique d’une partie de l Espagne.
Wright, T. On the Cassidulidee of the Oolites.
On the Cidaride of the Oolites.
On Fossil Echinoderms, &c., from the Island of Malta.
—-——. Contributions to the Paleeontology of the Isle of Wight.
Contributions to the Paleontology of Gloucestershire.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
EDITED BY
THE ASSISTANT-SECRETARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
VOLUME THE ELEVENTH.
1855.
PART II. MISCELLANEOUS.
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CONTENTS OF PART II.
Alphabetically arranged—the names of the Authors in capital letters.
Page
Acephala and Gasteropoda of the Sandling Marble, HOrnEs on the... 93
Alps, EscHER on the Geology of part of the Swiss ...........ssssessees 16
Asymmetrical Ammonites from Hierlatz, HAvER on some ............ 39
Austria, Peters on the Tertiary Chelonia of ............cssecesesesceceses 37
Banat, KuDERNATSCH on the Geology of a part Of .......-.....ss00ees 46
Banz, THEODoRI’s description of Ichthyosauri from, noticed ......... 4]
Bayrenth, Braun. on the Lnassie Flora of :....00.c.0.0...sccceseecccscecee 40
Belgrade, HoOrneEs on Tertiary Fossils from ...............sssecscecseeses 24
eetnre) Fie O1v Conl-Geposits 1h. .... sidecacsecdsecscccuessescsvoececdees 44
,. VoGL on the Geistergang in Northerm .............:cscscescscecesce 37
, WarnsporrF on the Geology of Carlsbad im ..............2..0005 43
Brachiopoda of the Kossen beds, SUESS on the .........ccseeecseeeeeceees 26
Brawn. On the Liassic Flora of Bayreuth...............ccccescescessecees 40
Carinthia, Lipoup on the Lead-bearing Rocks of Lower ...........+... Ad
prernrs on the Geolomy'of Lower ici. 1...cccccescesactioccsceess 38
Carlsbad, WARNSDORFF on the Geology Of .........cccecseeeceeeees ecsree 40
CaTuULLo. On the Fossil Crustacea from near Verona...........+0ee0e 42
Cephalopoda of the Hallstatt beds, HAUER on the ...........seeeeeeeee 22
Chelonia, Perrers on the Austrian Tertiary ........c.scscscsssscessoseses 37
Chpeenice, WAMMIEESBERG OF {!....2c cscs scocnsscccedceececatenssseececes 8
Clinochlore and Mica, KOKSCHAROV On... cseeeeees mene aemehc wa ence as 24
Coal-deposits at Marklin, in Bohemia, LIDL on................s.seceeeees 44
Cretaceous Rocks near Nice, PEREZ om the .........0csccscsccasecscacece 3
Crustacea, Fossil, from near Verona, CATULLO on some ............08- 42
DELANOUVE. Onthe Metamorphism of Rocks ............ccecssesceseees 7
Dolomite of Monte Salvatore, HAUER on some Fossils from the...... 48
Earthquakes at Schemnitz, RUSSEGGER OM ..........scesssessesceenee 36, 47
Echinodermata of the Hils-conglomerate, StROMBECK on the......... 13
1V
Page
ERDMANN’s Introduction to the Knowledge of Rocks, noticed ...... 48
EscHer. On the Geology of the Northern Vorarlberg and the neigh-
Dour Districts so... 0.4:700ncbees deectas Bana ven paseo t Reece pcemeeene
FoETTERLE. On Magnesite, and the Economic Production of Sul-
plate of Macnesia. «ca. .0scetemmennsccdencnstna ake seat eae sce sceaean meee 43
Forses and DaHLL. Mineralogical Researches in fie District around
Arendal and Krageroein Norway os svescs.csessoaeeaesasease vescerseccee
Fossils from the Dolomite of Monte Salvatore, HAUER on some...... 48
Fossil Crustacea from Verona, CATULLO OD ......cccccesccccccccccccceses 42
Gasteropoda and Acephala of the Sandling Marble, Horns onthe... 23
9
Geology of a part of Norway, Forses and DAHLL on the ............
of Carlsbad, WARNSDORFF’ On he +2... cavendclt whee ncotstueternnee 45
of Lower Carinthia, PETERS On The <:...0 ix unl
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TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES
OF
GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
On the NumMvutitTic, CRETACEOUS, and Jurassic TERRAINS of
the Maritime Aups, near Nice. By Prof. A. Perez.
[Sui Limiti Geognostici del Terreno Cretaceo delle Alpi marittime, per A. Perez.
Estratto degli Atti dell’ otava Riunione degli Scienzati Italiani in Genova;
Sezione di Geologia; Seduta delli 23 Settembre 1846. 8vo. Nizza, 1853, pp. 15.]
In the writings of Sismonda* and Pareto+ the Cretaceous terrain
of the Maritime Alps is represented as consisting—its upper part,
of the Alpine nummulitic terrain,—and its lower, of the yellow com-
pact limestone of the neighbourhood of Nice and the deposits inter-
mediate to this and the nummulitic rocks. To elucidate this subject,
I think it necessary to commence by tracing the arrangement and
succession of these strata, referring both to the labours of the above-
named geologists, and to the additional observations made by myself.
Nummulitic rocks.—The series of nummulitic rocks, so prevalent
in the Maritime Alps, is considerably developed at Mortola, where it
was observed long ago by De la Bechef, and since described with
much exactness by Pareto in his ‘ Description of Genoa.’ Having
visited this locality for the purpose of comparing it with those of
Pallarea, Fontana Giarrié, Contes, Braus, Villanova (Provence),
Berra, Poggetto, and Roccasterone, I could not find any other
difference between the nummulitic terrain of Mortola and that of the
above-cited places, than what would arise from the greater or less
development of the series, or from the absence of one or more of its
members. The order, the fossils, the relations, and the characters
are identical.
Not wishing to repeat what can be read in the ‘ Description of
Genoa,’ I shall not describe the upper part of this terrain, but will
confine my observations to its lower portion, which, lying upon the
* Osservazioni Geologiche sulle Alpi marittime e sugli Apennini Liguri. 1841.
See also Classificazione dei Terreni stratificati delle Alpi tra il Monte Bianco e la
Contea di Nizza; Mem. R. Accad. Sc. Torino, ser. 2. vol. xiii. 1851.—TRANSL.
+ Liguria marittima. Descrizione di Genova, art. Geologia; in the “ Guide ”
presented to the Members of the Italian Scientific Association at the meeting in
Genoa in 1846.
t Trans. Geol. Soc. London, 2nd ser. vol. iii. pt. 1.—TRANSL.
VOL. XI.—PART II. B
2 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
evidently Cretaceous terrain, may show us whether it ought to be
united to it or not.
On the Belenda Hill, above Mortola, and in its neighbourhood it is
difficult to follow the stratification on account of the irregularities of
the surface, the contortions of the strata, and their various foldings.
On the top of this hill, however, to the N.E., we can distinguish—1.
The cretaceous marly limestone with Inocerami and Hamites ; 2.
Overlying nummulitic strata. Conformably on the latter lie, Ist,
strata full of fossils, identical with those of the Fontana Giarrié,
which are noticed by Bellardi in Prof. Sismonda’s Memoir on the
Maritime Alps; 2ndly, other strata with various Nummulites (as we
shall again find at Capo di Mortola) ; 3rdly, above these, marls and
sandstones ; and 4thly, macigno and limestones.
These strata are folded back towards the S.E., and are reproduced
with their regular development at the Croce di Mortola, where, by a
local disturbance, the strata with Nummulites are covered uncon-
formably by the fossiliferous strata which we have above noticed.
It is easy to see that this unconformability depends on a local dis-
placement, if we follow the direction of the strata from the Croce
di Mortola as far as Capo Omonino, where they dip into the sea near
the estate of Grandis. There I noticed the following parallel series
of strata, from below upwards :—
without any trace of Nummulites or other fossils common
to the overlying beds.
(2. Strata containing Nummulites from thirty to a few millimetres
in diameter, and gibbous on both surfaces.
3. Strata with whitish fossils (Zoophytes predominating), ana-
logous to those of Fontana Giarri¢, Blosasco, Pallarea, &c.
4, Strata containing Ostree about 20 centimetres in diameter
(perhaps the Ostrea latissima of Deshayes?).
5. Strata with flat Nummulites, about 20 millimetres, more or
B. less, in diameter.
6. Strata containing minute bodies possibly referable to Num-
mulina of D’Orbigny,—flat, circular, thin, and bearing a
central tubercle on one of their faces.
Strata with small Lenticulites, analogous to those of Beau-
heu near St. Ospizio.
. Strata containing a mixture of flat Nummulites and of the
species referred to in No. 6, &c.
v) 1. The bluish marly limestone with Inocerami and Hamites ;
A.
4
Ses
Disseminated in the greater part of these strata [B.] we have the
Spirulea nummularia, Broun [Serpula spirulea, Lamk.], and other
fossils which we cannot here notice, but which will be treated of by
M. Bellardi*. |
These strata consist of a psammite, more or less brown, and vary-
ing in its character.
* See “ List of the fossils from the Nummulitic Rocks of Nice,” by M. Bellardi,
Bullet. Soc. Géol. France, 2 sér. vol. vii. p. 678.—TRANSL.
PEREZ—GEOLOGY OF NICE. 3
[ insist then on the perfect agreement of these nummulitic strata
amongst themselves (and especially with that containing zoophytes
and full of whitish fossils, which at the Croce di Mortola I described
as being unconformable by a local displacement), that these inferior
strata with Nummulites may not be dismembered, nor united with
the underlying cretaceous limestone [A.].
This order of the strata is repeated at the Fontana Giarrié with
the same fossils.
The same succession is observable at Poggetto, Contes, Roccas-
terone, &c.; places where I have collected—with MM. Bellardi,
Wandenhecke, Caillaud, Dr. Baudoin, Major Charters, and others—
more than a hundred species of fossils, the majority of which are
referable to supercretaceous forms, according to MM. Deshayes,
Defrance, Michelin, and Bellardi. At Blosasco Count Saisi of Nice
found a Nerinea in the nummulitic strata; and some cretaceous
fossils found in this terrain are noticed in Prof. Pilla’s work; but
their number is very small.
At Braus only the stratum comparable to that above indicated
by No. 2 has been observed. More exact research, however, may
enable us to find the others also. I have there ascertained that the
nummulitic terrain reposes on the marly limestone with Inoceramus
quite unconformably,—a fact already noticed by Professor Sismonda,
and observed by him and Bellardi at Poggetto, Roccasterone, and
La Penne. |
The limestone with Lenticulites at Beaulieu ought to be collocated
with the nummulitic strata of Mortola, of which it represents the
strata marked No, 7. And in fact, if this be tertiary, as the Marquis
Pareto is inclined to think, with it ought to be arranged the num-
mulitic series of Mortola and of all the Maritime Alps, from which it
cannot be separated :—a fact proved by the marls that cover this
limestone, which abound with Foraminifera common to the num-
mulitic marls.
A deposit, moreover, which I visited at the Torrent Lupo, in Pro-
vence, ought I think to be referred to the Alpine nummulitic terrain,
and should be regarded as analogous to the stratum marked No. 6,
both from the fossils which it contains, and from the nature of the
rocks which overlie it. In examining these rocks we find a con-
siderable development of marls and sandstones, which call to mind
the portions immediately above the nummulitic strata m other parts
of the Maritime Alps. Further, these sandstones are here covered
by Sub-Apennine tertiaries, with the usual development of bluish
marl and of conglomerate.
Cretaceous rocks.—Without the intervention of the Hippurite-
limestone with Nummulites, the absence of which at Nice and on
the Ligurian coast has been demonstrated by M. Ewald, the
Alpine nummulitic terrain generally les upon a marly limestone,
sometimes full of green points, &c., the characters of which have
‘been well described in detail by MM. Sismonda, Pareto, and others,
In this no Nummulites have been found; but, on the contrary,
the following cretaceous species—
B 2
4 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
Inoceramus mytiloides. Ammonites Rhothomagensis.
Cuvieri ? —— Mantelli.
Ananchytes ovatus. —— falcatus.
Micraster arenatus. Fleuriausianus ; and others.
cor-anguinum ; &c. Scaphites zequalis.
Gryphza columba. Baculites baculoides.
Nautilus triangularis. Turrilites costatus.
Ammonites varians. Gravesianus; and others.
— Woolgari.
This is a mingling of the fossils of the white and the chloritic
chalk, contained in numerous strata constituting a well-developed
terrain, which ought, indeed, from its uniform characters and the
relations of its parts to be regarded as single and indivisible.
At the geographical limits of this terrain we find cropping out
two strata of sandstone (of a green colour from the grains of glau-
conite abundantly disseminated in the rock), which separate it from
the underlying compact yellow limestone.
These two strata of green sandstone are naturally disconnected
from this terrain,—1stly, by the distinct separation at their line of
contact; 2ndly, more especially by the fossils that characterise
them.
The first of these strata contains at the Madonna di Laghetto, the
plain of Eza, and the Rayet near Monte Calvo the characteristic
Ammonites of the Gault: the fossils are,—
Ammonites Lyellii. Ammonites Beudanti.
mammillaris. —— latidorsatus.
— Roystianus. Discoidea subuculus ;
Delaruei. and others.
interruptus.
The second stratum affords characteristic lower neocomian fossils.
It is to be recognized by the little flattened oval oolitic grains of
hydrated iron; and is characterized at Monte Calvo, S. Lorenzo di
Turbia, the Fosse di 8. Ospizio, Toretto, Col di Revello, &c., by
the following fossils :—
Ammonites Astierianus. Ammonites radiatus.
cryptoceras. angulicostatus ;
—-— difficilis. and others.
—— Leopoldinus. Crioceras Emerici.
— heliacus. Belemnites dilatatus.
Ixion. subfusiformis ; and others.
These two strata almost always occur in separate localities; they
have a development of from one to a few metres, and lie conformably
on the compact yellow limestone.
Major Charters has visited some of these localities, and, to my
satisfaction, has arrived at the same conclusions.
Jurassic rocks.—-Beneath these green sandstones lies the dirty-
yellow compact limestone, more or less dolomitic, which forms the
flanks and the crest of the principal mountains above Nice, and
along a considerable tract of country in Liguria to the West.
This limestone is considerably developed ; and, without overstep-
ping the truth, it may be estimated at above 1000 feet in thickness.
PEREZ—GEOLOGY OF NICE. 5
The agents which have metamorphosed it—sometimes into gyp-
sum, sometimes into dolomite—have not so obscured its stratification
but that it may be seen with difficulty in a few places.
To M. Sismonda’s reasoning on the original cause of the production
of the gypsum of this limestone, I will add a fact of some weight ;
namely, the alteration which the rocks of the chloritic chalk lying
above this limestone have undergone in the gypsum pit of S. Rosalia,
where, although very much deranged and altered, they can still be
recognized ; and I note this fact as opposed to the conclusions which
might be drawn from the perhaps not too exact observation of M. Tchi-
hatcheff, who described his having seen the gypsum lying in strata
above the compact limestone at Monte Morone.
The disturbances which this terrain has suffered render it some-
what difficult to recognize the order and arrangement of its parts.
It appears to me possible to divide it into three portions ;—the
uppermost is characterized by numerous Zoophytes (as at the Faro,
where it is soon covered up by the neocomian sandstone) ;—the
middle division is very dolomitic, and especially contains Nerinea ;—
the lowest contains the majority of the Ammonites, of which the
following is a list :—
Ammonites biplex. Ammonites flexuosus.
multiradiatus. —— Keenigii.
tortisulcatus. subfascicularis.
To the above list may be added others which are referable to the
section ‘planulati,” but the species of which are not recognizable.
Other fossils * are :—
Belemnites (indeterm.). Terebratula globosa, Sow.
Nerinza Wisurgis, Rem. —— makxillosa, Sow.
Terebratula perovalis, Sow.
Also several Echinodermata, which are regarded as jurassic by M.
E. Sismonda, who has also collected from this limestone some inde-
terminable fragments of an Apiocrinite and a Pentacrinite.
These fossils were collected at the foot of Monte Calvo in the
Valley of S. Andrea, at the foot of the hill of Rovello, at S. Ponzio, at
Monte Albano, and at the hill of Turbia near S. Lorenzo. In some
of these localities we collected them m company with Major Charters.
The supposed absence of jurassic fossils in this limestone,—its
having analogous mineral characters with the neighbouring rocks of
the Cheiron, and other reasons derived from position,—and espe-
cially the [presumed] affinity of some of its fossils with the neocomian,
were the reasons that induced M. Sismonda to regard it as neoco-
mian, and to remove it from the jurassic series, with which De la
Beche and Buckland+ had placed it. Some geologists indeed are still
inclined to take this view.
* T am indebted to Baron von Buch for the determination of the jurassic Am-
monites, and to M. Bellardi for that of the other fossils of this terrain.
+ Trans. Geol. Soc. 2 ser. vol. iii. p. 183 et seg.—TRANSL.
6 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
The fossils that favoured this opinion are,—
The Ammonites subfascicularis, D’Orb.; found by Sig. Prof. Cav.
Sismonda in several localities in the county, and by me in the Valley
of 8. Andrea, together with 4. tortisulcatus, D?Orb. This species
was afterwards referred by D’Orbigny to the jurassic series.
Ammonites virgatus ; cited by Sismonda with some doubt*.
An Aptychus ; determined by M. Bellardi as the 4. Didayi (Co-
quand) ; but in this fossil M. Bellardi afterwards found some differ-
ences from the true . Didayi in the number and direction of the
costee, on comparing it with a well-preserved individual of that
species.
Ammonites* Ixion, Belemnites dilatatus, B. pistilliformis, and B.
subfusiformis ; these were really found in the greenish neocomian
sandstone, which some would unite with this limestone, which occurs
in the same localities.
General inferences.—Reasoning upon what I have here brought
forward, it appears to me possible to arrive at the following conclu-
sions :—
1. That the macigno in the Maritime Alps is always superior to the
nummulitic strata.
2. That the nummulitic terrain in the different localities of the
Maritime Alps above cited is identical in age and character, if not in
development.
3. That of the fossils which it contains, the greater part are Eocene,
some are peculiar to it, and some are Cretaceous.
4, That it is perfectly distinct in its characters from the cretaceous
strata on which it reposes,—sometimes unconformably ; and conse-
quently that it cannot be classed with them.
5. That the Hippurite-limestone with Nummulites may sometimes
possibly be in contact with the nummulitic terrain in the South of
France, and in other places, but that the two groups have no cha-
racter in common, except the presence of the genus Nummulites,—
and not the species, as was supposed by Prof. Pilla.
6. That, if a few fossils be sufficient to characterize a deposit, a
larger number are more decisive ; whence it follows that, taking into
account the numerical proportion of species, the Alpine nummulitic
terrain should be referred to the eocene and not to the cretaceous
period, very few fossils referable to the latter having as yet been
discovered in the localities above-mentioned, and some even of these
are doubtful.
7. That the Alpine nummulitic terrain ought from its characters
and fossils to be classed as intermediate between the cretaceous and
the supracretaceous, as MM. Pilla and Leymerie think ; or at least it
should be united with the tertiary series as a lower member, but
quite detached from the chalk, as M. Michelin has suggested.
8. That the marly limestone with Inocerami, Am. Mantelli, Am.
* Notizie e schiarimenti sulla costituzione delle Alpi piemontesi del Prof. Sis-
monda, p. 89.
DELANOUE—METAMORPHIC ROCKS. 4
varians, Gryphea columba, &e. ought to be regarded as the upper
cretaceous terrain, to distinguish it from the gault, which I shall
designate middle chalk ; and from the neocomian, which forms the
lowest portion of the cretaceous series.
9. That the Gault, although little developed, constitutes a terrain
of itself, and represents the middle chalk of the Maritime Alps.
10. That the Neocomian terrain finds its representative only in
the greenish sandstone characterized by lower neocomian fossils.
1]. That the compact yellow limestone not so characterized, and
subjacent to the lower neocomian, is Jurassic; a conclusion ren-
dered necessary by the jurassic fossils found in it.
12. That the Cretaceous terrains of the Maritime Alps* are limited
above by the marly limestone with Inoceramus, Hamites, &c., and
below by the greenish neocomian sandstone, both inclusive.
[T..B. 3]
On the MetTamorpuisM of Rocks. By M. J. DELaNovE.
[L’Institut, 1854, p. 285. Leonhard u. Bronn’s N. Jahrb. f. Min. u. s. w. 1854,
p. 731.]
Tue author disapproves of the immoderate application of the hypo-
thesis according to which silica, natron, and even felspar have been
driven out from the interior of the globe to silicify and felspathize
not only the strata lying in their immediate vicinity, but even single
beds of rock intercalated between others,—or according to which
magnesia has penetrated this or that rock, or converted a part of a
limestone into dolomite. He does not deny the outbreak of molten
rocks from the interior of the earth, and the effect of their heat on
the sedimentary rocks at the point of contact, whereby the latter may
have been calcined, and reaction may have taken place among their
constituent parts, or many of them may have been volatilized. Thus
“the volcanic rocks are formed by the surfusion of the felspathic
rocks ; anthracite and graphite by the heating or calcining of fossil
plants, &e. But there is no proof that the porphyries must give up
alkalies, or the serpentines carbonated magnesia to rock-masses
broken through by them. Thus in the Ligurian Alps the serpen-
tines have upraised limestone strata, almost without altering, or at
least only fracturing them. Nowhere do we see proofs of the inte-
gral chemical change of the whole of a rock or series of rocks.”’
* The region which bears the general name of “ Maritime Alps” extends
west and east from near Colmar in France to Capo di Noli, a distance of about
90 miles (English); and to the northward it has a width, on the parallel of Cuneo,
of about 50 miles.
The principal maps of this district are two.—1l. The great Trigonometric Survey,
“Carta Topografica,” on a scale of sath of nature: the result of operations described
in two elaborate volumes 4to. This map occupies ninety (engraved) sheets, and
must be an excellent basis for geological survey. 2. A reduction of the great
map to a scale of xia in six sheets. (“ Carta degli Stati di sua Maesta Sarda,
in terra ferma; opera del Real Corpo di Stato Maggiore; incisa, etc. 1841.”’) The
scale of this reduced map is very nearly 4 miles to an inch (English).—TRans..
8 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
It appears far more natural to admit that the elements of the meta-
morphic rocks already existed in them, and have not been introduced.
Certain sedimentary dolomites and limestones have evidently under-
gone a fusion and subsequent crystallization (St. Gothard). Chiasto-
lite, Felspathic-granites [ ? |, and many other silicates may have at any
time been produced by the intense heating of sedimentary rocks in
which their constituent elements were already present. Felspar cry-
stals originate where the sedimentary rock contains the alumimous
alkali-silicates of the pyrogenous rocks from the destruction of which
it has been formed.
The author indicates a new origin for felspar by the wet method.
This soluble combination, which is formed in the laboratory by the
precipitation of alumina with the natron-silicates, occurs also in the
clays, in spite of the solubility of the soda, and must have necessarily
been precipitated in the earliest times from all the ancient seas so
rich in kali- and natron-silicates. The presence of these alkali-sili-
cates has given rise to the immense quantity of quarzites, jaspers,
and flint-rocks, which are so abundant in the oldest formations.
These quarzites, jaspers, felspars, &c. have been precipitated che-
mically with all sediments, and their predominance in certain places
of the sedimentary rocks has rendered them so homogeneous and
hard, that recourse has been had to the hypothesis of an extensive
metamorphic felspathization:—as for instance in the case of the
greywacke of the Vosges. [T. R. J.]
On CuiLpRENITE*. By C. RAMMELSBERG.
[Poggendorf’s Annal. Ixxxv. p. 435, &c.; and Leonh. u. Bronn’s N. Jahrb. f. Min.
u. &. w. 1854, p. 322.]
Tuts mineral occurs in a vein in the George and Charlotte Mine near
Tavistock in Devonshire, with spathose iron, quartz, and copper-pyrites.
It is also stated to have been found near Callington in Cumberland.
Form, rhombic octohedron ; the side angles, according to Brooke,
=97° 50', the sharper terminal angles =120° 30! [? 102°30'], the
blunter 130° 20’. Combinations, several. Colour, yellowish and
blackish brown, and blackish. Transparent. Lustre, brightly vitreous.
Hardness =5. Powder, yellowish. Specific gravity, from 3°247
to 3°28. Composition :—
Phosphoric aeid..0.2000 2. 252; ' 28-92
PUTER en ee 14:44
Oxydulated aOR. tp eis 30°68
Oxydulated manganese...... 9°07
Miaenesia |... eee rers Ole
WHatet Fon. oc cca e- 16°98
. 100-23
Formula :—(2R‘P + APP) + 15H. [T. R. J.J
* See also Brooke, Quart. Journal of Science, vol. xvi. p. 274 ; and Brooke’s and
Miller’s Mineralogy, p. 52]1.—TRANSL.
TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES
OF
GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
MINERALOGICAL ResEARCHES in the District around ARENDAL
and KRraGEROE in Norway. By Davip Forsss, F.G.S.,
A.1.C.E., and Tetter Dauut, Cand. Min.
{ Mineralogiske Iagttagelser omkring Arendal og Krageroe, &c. ; abridged from the
Norske Magazin for Naturvidenskab, vol. viii. part 3, 1854. |
Tuts paper is the first of a series of observations on the mineralogy
of the line of coast connecting the towns of Arendal and Krageroe in
Norway, and contains notices of several new minerals, as well as
additions to the mineral geography of this district. —
Some points connected with the development of minerals in con-
nexion with the granitic rocks appear of sufficient interest to warrant
an abstract of this part of the paper, without going into the more
purely mineralogical details which form the bulk of the communi-
cation.
The district itself is composed entirely of the older rocks, princi-
pally gneiss, which shows itself in many varieties. The general
strike was found to be from 60° N.W. to E. and W., or about parallel
to the main line of coast.
The dip was extremely variable, and at all angles from 13° up to
90°, S.E. to S., and up to S.W.
Mica-gneiss was found most normal in Dybvaag, consisting there
of red orthoklase, grey quartz, and black mica.
Felspar and mica became more sparingly distributed towards Kra-
geroe, and there hornblende and quartz were found more prominent,
and often as distinct rocks ; on the other hand, nearer Arendal, fel-
spar was much more abundant, and was generally present as potash-
felspar, whereas at Krageroe soda-felspar was the more common.
The results of these researches appear to prove that the occurrence
of minerals in these rocks is due almost exclusively to the appearance
of granite, which therefore formed a special subject of investigation,
and is divided into two classes :—
A, when occurring as veins, or imbedded in the course of strata.
B, as nodules or irregular masses.
It was found that this classification was not only consistent with
the external form of the granitic masses, but was also visible in their
VOL. XI.—PART II. C
10 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
internal structure and mimeral contents; since the former of these
varieties was seldom found to contain extraneous minerals, whereas
the latter was generally rich in such.
With regard to the first of these classes, reference can be made to
the paper itself, with its illustrations*, from which it would appear
that this granite shows itself in veins of all sizes, cutting through, or
imbedding itself in, the gneiss, and generally possessing a much finer
grain and more confused development than the other variety.
The second class is treated more in detail, as being particularly
favourable to the development of extraneous minerals. The first
symptoms of the appearance of such granite seem to be where there
is seen here and there in the crystalline schists small nodules of
white quartz, of reddish-grey orthoklase, or of yellowish-white oligo-
klase, of a greater size than the particles composing the rock itself.
Still further developed, as can be seen at Gronholmen, Flougsta-
doen, &c., these nodules are composed of one or both species of fel-
spar, along with quartz and mica, in particles varying in bulk up to
the size of the fist; the laminz of the gneiss bend round the nodules,
like the woody fibre surrounding a knot in timber.
When the size of these nodules increased, it was found that the
particles of their constituent minerals also became larger, less inter-
mixed with each other, and of better crystalline development ; and
further, that extraneous minerals were found more frequently present
in proportion to such increase of size.
The appearances presented by such granitic masses, with their
progressive development, will be better seen from a few of the illus-
trations which are here subjoined.
Fig. 1 is a horizontal plan of part of an irregular granitic mass in
Fig. 1.—Ground-plan of a granitic mass, with quartz-nodules, in
gneiss at Kalvesund.
the gneiss at Kalvesund. Lenticular masses of quartz (a, a) are
here seen surrounded by a mixture of orthoklase and mica.
At Flougstadden also is seen a similar case (fig. 2), where a
nodule of quartz (a a) is surrounded by a mixture of the same com-
* In Plate III., Norske Mag. f. N. vol. viii. part 3; some of the figures of which
are here reproduced as woodcuts.—TRANSL.
FORBES—MINERALOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NORWAY. 1]
Fig. 2.—Ground-plan of a granitic mass, with a quartz-nodule, in
gneiss at Flouystadéen.
position as before, and the whole forms an irregular mass (m, 7) in
the gneiss, and disturbs the foliation of this rock.
Fig. 3 is a sketch drawn on an island near Ebo, where, as before,
a, a, isa lenticular quartz nodule, surrounded in this case by a mixture
of white oligoklase and chloritic mica, which also encloses the frag-
ments ¢, c, evidently portions of the hornblendic gneiss which forms
Fig. 3.—Ground-plan of a quartz-nodule in a granitic mass, with
Sragments of the enclosing rock, from near Ebo.
the surrounding rock ; several minerals are found here.
On a much larger scale than any of these, fig. 4 represents the
section of the quartz quarry at Buoien ; here we have a large mass
of quartz, a, a, which is quarried for technical purposes, surrounded
Fig. 4.—Section of a Quartz Quarry at Buoien, showing a lenticular
mass of quartz enveloped with granitic rock imbedded in gneiss.
<=
pas
¥
+
ad Seele
*
by a sheath of rock, which, within the lines 6 4, 6 6, is composed
of orthoklase, with a few large plates of black mica. At the point of
contact with the quartz, the orthoklase is often found in large and
sometimes defined crystals of several cubic feet contents.
ce
12
GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
Beyond the lines 4 6, 6 & the orthoklase is less developed, be-
comes mixed with about as much oligoklase and quartz, and then
forms a graphic granite, which at other parts, by the addition of
mica in small plates, puts on the appearance of ordinary granite.
Orthite, Zircon, Malakon?, Oerstadite’?, Apatite, Yttrotitanite,
Magnetite, &c., were found here.
The finest representation
given of the structure of such
granitic masses is shown in
the vertical section of the
felspar quarry at Helle near
Neeskilen(fig.5). The scale
may be judged of from the
section itself, which at the
highest point is about 15 feet.
The felspar is here quarried
for technical purposes.
On the surface is seen a
covering of gneiss, not more
than from 1 to 2 feet thick,
showing a regular and nearly
perpendicular foliation ; be-
low this we have on the one
hand (a) orthoklase graphic
granite, and on the other
(4) oligoklase graphic gra-
nite.
Still lower, the constituent
minerals of the granite, viz.
quartz (7), orthoklase (0),
and mica (a), are developed
on an immense scale; the
mica, even, being in plates
of enormous size and of
many square yards area.
The masses of quartz and
orthoklase here found some-
times show traces of cry-
stalline faces.
Underneath the whole we
have graphic granite (m),
going over to ordinary gra-
nite of a fine grain.
Several minerals occur
Height of section 15 feet.
Fig. 5.—Section of a Felspar Quarry at Helle.
ran
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a, graphic granite with orthoklase.
m, graphic granite passing into ordinary granite.
a@, mica.
graphic granite with oligoklase.
c, ¢, gneiss.
b,
0, orthoklase.
r, quartz.
here, and amongst others may be mentioned two new minerals called
Alvite and Bragite, as well as Orthite in crystals and masses up to
the size of 14 to 15 lbs.
From the observations made in various parts of this district it
would appear that the mica present in such granite has a very de-
terminate relation to the occurrence of extraneous minerals, which
STROMBECK—HILS-CONGLOMERATE ECHINODERMS. I3
were almost invariably found either in close connexion with, or often
imbedded in, the plates of mica. It was likewise remarked, that the
quartz, when in contact with large plates of mica, became of a smoke-
brown colour, which otherwise it was never found to possess ; also
that the felspar often became of a darker colour, and was then gene-
rally accompanied by some rarer mineral.
Various observations seem to prove that both the felspar and the
mica have crystallized before the quartz ; the mica-plates apparently
floating about in a solution from which the quartz had subsequently
crystallized.
Beyond the abstract here given, the remainder or greater part of
the communication treats of the minerals separately, with regard to
locality, mode of occurrence, crystalline character, and chemical con-
stitution ; and is of such length that reference on these points must
be made to the paper itself. It may be mentioned, however, that
four new minerals, called Alvite, Tyrite, Urdite, and Bragite, are an-
nounced ; the chemical examination of which shows the presence of
very rare chemical elements; also that three of them contain a
considerable amount of water, notwithstanding their being situated
in granite of igneous origin. [Dice]
On the EcuinopErmata of the Hits-ConGLoMERATE in Norru-
WESTERN GERMANY. By A. von STROMBECK.
[Leonhard u. Bronn’s N. Jahrbuch f. Min. u. s. w. 1854, p. 641-656. ]
AmonG the characteristic fossils of the Hils-conglomerate in the
Northern Hartz and in Hilse, the Echinoidea are some of the most
important, partly on account of peculiarity of form, and partly from
their abundance ; and as yet they have not received sufficient atten-
tion. Hence it happens that geologists, though well acquainted
with the rich variety of the Neocomian Echinodermata of Switzerland
and France, remain still in doubt with regard to the place of the Hils-
conglomerate (although indeed A. Roemer, in his work on the Chalk-
formation, has already referred it to its true geological horizon).
For this reason M. v. Strombeck was induced to determine with
precision the species from the Hils-conglomerate ; more especially as
he possessed for comparison some good suites of Neocomian fossils
from Neuchatel, Ste. Croix (Jura Vaudoise), Mont Saléve near
Geneva, Censeau (Dep. Jura), Escragnoles (Var), Castellane (Basses
Alpes), &c., with which he was favoured by geologists living near
those localities ; and further, since M. Desor, one of the best autho-
rities on the Hehinoidea, had lately revised the Hils-conglomerate
species in M. v. Strombeck’s collection, some of which were repre-
sented by fifty and more specimens. The determinations may there-
fore be considered as correct.
At the same time M. von Strombeck in this paper furnishes some
14 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
remarks on the Lower Cretaceous beds near Brunswick ; his in-
tended memoir on this subject requiring more time for its completion.
The whole of the Hils-conglomerate does not contain fossil Echi-
noderms. In the fullest development of the Conglomerate, where it
does not pass into one bed, the upper part contains no trace of Sea-
urchins, although it has many fossils common also to the lower por-
tion. The Echinoidea are confined to the older part. Here there
are in one and the same horizon two different facies, passing however
one into the other; the one is full of Spatangoide ; the other in
its typical development exhibits only Cidaris remains.
The Spatangoide facies occurs in the Brunswick district, on both
sides the Asse (Berklingen, Gross-Vahlberg, Gevensleben, between
Denkte and Wittmar, &c.),—on the Oesel (particularly at the spot
called Busche),—on the Fallsteme (Achim and Wetzleben),—and be-
tween Goslar and Harzburg on the northern side of the Hartz.
The Cidaris facies is seen on the southern brow of the Elms
(Rautenberg, near Schoppenstadt),—on the heights near Apelnstadt
and Salzdahlum, between Brunswick and Wolfenbiittel,—on the Oesel
(Kissenbruch sand-pit),—and near Schandelah,
When the Hils-conglomerate is not divisible into upper and lower,
it either contains no Hchinites,—as at Bohnencamp near Querum,
not far from Brunswick (here the Neocomian sandstone of the Teuto-
burger Wald, described by F. Roemer, appears to belong),—or only
the Cidaris, as at Elligserbrink, not far from Delligsen im Hilse.
With regard to its stratigraphical position, the Hils-conglomerate
in the Northern Hartz lies on the jurassic strata (the lower, middle,
or upper, according to the several localities), and in the Hildesheim
district it rests on the Wealden. It is generally overlaid by a thick
mass of clay, which in its fullest development presents the following
members, from below upward :—
1. Clay with the fossils of the Speeton Clay, as cited by Phillips,
—but leaving out the Gault forms, &e.
2. Clay with Belemnites semicanaliculatus, Blainv. (according to
D’Orbigny), and Ammonites Nisus, D’Orb. ;=the Gargas-marl =
Aptian.
3. Lower Gault Clay, poor in fossils ; locally replaced by a littoral
formation, the Subhercynian Lower Quader-sandstone.
4. Upper Gault Clay with Ammonites auritus, Sow., Belemnites
minutus, Lister. (See Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geol. Gesellsch. vol. v.
p- 501.)
Still higher are variegated marls [flammen-mergel], planer, and
lastly argillaceous and sandy marls (the latter with Bel. mucronatus)
of the age of the White Chalk.
The clays nos. 1 to 4 were comprehended in the term ‘ Hilsthon,”’
given by A. Roemer before it was known that any of them possessed
a distinct and characteristic fauna, the publication of which M. von
Strombeck reserves to himself. The rich fossiliferous bed at Ellig-
serbrink, 4 to 12 feet in thickness, which Roemer likewise included
in it, is, as above mentioned, decidedly Hils-conglomerate.
STROMBECK—HILS-CONGLOMERATE ECHINODERMS. 15
M. von Strombeck proceeds to describe (pp. 463-652) the species
of Echinodermata peculiar to the Hils-conglomerate, and to point
out their synonymy, alliances, and localities.
The following are the species of Echinoidea that have been found
in the Hils-conglomerate and determined with precision.
a Use: ce oe , o Oe eH
3 S28 a oS a ome)
& 1S88Pp lgcS8. | g8se
ne] Five Liste D x4 > ons
i =| eSBs (KH EBA eS ES
ZSeoow lass B83
a os Ke os S — a) oS6 Qy
Besos Oses | u28
a ee ae aA
£ Sere <7 5... = th
3 SR %Z SSNS = ren beta eat)
a Eek ae ea Be ae
se be 7 o
a faa g oO Ee) o%7/ sc s Ay
g oa25 |S Or ae sss
Oo | BERR RAVEN! RSA
Oo | & is) S
Toxaster complanatus (Gmel.), Ag....| cc.
Holaster Hardyi, Dub. ..............000 ce.
Dysaster ovulant,s: 4g: ...00:0ss0s0cseee ri i,
Pygurus Montmollini, 4g. ............ ee -
Wacleolites Olfersii, Ag. ......<0.000+6 c.
RCMYIS AG.” | Vincvisecdesesecssnns Ts
Pyrina pynea, Desor so. 32c00. ccsencee: €
| Holectypus macropygus, Desor ...... Te A
Dradema rotulare, Ag. ...cces0-...00n00s i gee
| —— Bourgueti, Ag......-...ssessseeeees IT. A
| Cidaris punctata, Roem. ............... ce. 7
All these species, except the last one, occur together more or less.
frequently ; but exclusively in the lower Hils-conglomerate. The
last species (Cidaris punctata) is rare in the same localities, but is
extremely abundant where the beds contain no other Urchins.
M. D’Orbigny has recently divided the Neocomian into two
stages,—the lower, or Neocomian proper,—and the upper, or Ur-
gonian. The Swiss geologists again divide the lower portion into two
members,—the lower and the middle Neocomian, represented by the
Marnes d’ Hauterive and the yellow limestonet which underlies it.
According to a letter from M. Desor, the Lower Neocomian is
characterized by Toxaster subquadratus, T. Campichei, and Pygurus
rostratus ; the upper, by Toxaster oblongus and Pygurus productus §.
It may be that the separation between the lower and the middle
Neocomian is only local; it is certain, however, that the Hils-con-
glomerate has not as yet afforded any of the lower or of the upper
* [This species, which M. v. Strombeck states he has not received from Neu-
chatel, has certainly been found in the Marnes d’Hauterive of Ste. Croix (Jura
Vaudoise).—E. R.]
+ [This species is found in the Neuchatel district in the Upper Neocomian
(étage urgonien).—E. R.}
+ [M. v. Strombeck speaks of this rock as being palzontologically equivalent to
the Marnes d’Hauterive ; but this is incorrect, as the fauna is very different. M.
Desor has proposed for this lower stage the name Valangien, and is about to
describe the fauna, which contains a great number of new species.—E. R.]
§ [In M. v. Strombeck’s paper the two species of Pygurus are inadvertently
misplaced one for the other.—E. R. |
16 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
Neocomian species of Echinoderms. On the contrary, as may be
seen by the foregoing Table, nearly all the species are found in the
Marnes d’ Hauterive, both in the Dépt. de l’Isére, and m the French
Jura and Neuchatel; and by consulting the works of Leymerie, the
same will be found to hold good for the Basin of the Seine.
Thus are these Echinites found to indicate a particular geological
horizon ; the Marnes d’Hauterive of Switzerland and France corre-
sponding to the Hils-conglomerate of Germany. It seems indeed
that, even if some of the species occur in the lower Neocomian, none
of them passed up to a higher horizon than the Neocomian. The
only exception appears to be the occurrence of Towaster complanatus
in younger beds up to the Upper Greensand in England (Morris’s
Catalogue, Ist edit. p. 54*); but it is probable that this exception
will be set aside by further examination. The occurrence of this
species in the Speeton-clay is at least very doubtful. The Speeton-
clay of Brunswick does not contain anything of the kind. Either
the Speeton-clay of Yorkshire has not been separated from the lower
Neocomian, just as Phillips did not separate it from the Gault, or
the Spatangus argillaceus, which Phillips figures from the Speeton
Clay, is a different species from Toaster complanatus*.
The agreement between the Marnes d’Hauterive and the Lower
Hils-conglomerate, as shown by their other organic remains, is thus
supported by an additional argument,—the identity of the Echi-
noideal fauna. But we must not forget that this same Neocomian
exhibits in different localities very different facies, such as Marcou
has described it at Nozeroy, and as it occurs in the Hartz.
[E. Renévier and T. R. J.]
On the GroLocy of the NorrHeRN VoRARLBERG and the
NEIGHBOURING Disrricts. By A. EscHer von DER LINTH.
| Mémoires de la Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles, vol. xiii.; and Bibliot.
Univ. de Genéve, Arch. Sc. Phys. et Nat. Sept. 1854, p. 67 &c.]
THE position of the Alpine rocks regarded as belonging to the
Keuper has been often the subject of discussion, especially since the
environs of S. Cassian in the Tyrol have furnished a large number
of fossils. M. Escher’s memoir treats especially of this difficult
subject, and contains also a description of the general succession of
the numerous rock-masses which constitute the eastern portion of
Switzerland and the western part of the Tyrol. The memoir is the
result of traverses made in this little-known Alpine region in 1851.
M. Escher indicates in the following Table the order of the strata,
commencing at the top. This general view is established on the
numerous sections accompanying the memoir.
* [This is corrected in the 2nd edit. 1854.—T. R. J.]
t+ [With regard to this species, the late Prof. E. Forbes remarks (Mem. Geol.
Surv. Dec. IV. t. 5. p. 4), “I can find no evidence whatsoever of the occurrence
of the true Toxaster complanatus in the British strata. Very distinct Sea-urchins,
members of no fewer than four different genera, have been intended by that name
in British lists.”—E. R.]
ESCHER—VORARLBERG. 17
Upper freshwater.
Molasse ........: lL. | Main
Lower freshwater.
. Flysch.
. Nummulitic beds.
. Limestone of Sewen.
Gault.
. Urgonian.
. Neocomian.
. Upper ? Jurassic.
. Middle Jurassic.
? 10. Fucoidal schists.
11. Marly limestone with Ammonites Amaltheus, &c.
12. Red limestone with hornstone.
(13. Limestone with Megalodon scutatus.
14. 8S. Cassian beds.
| 15. Dolomite (fossils at Esino, Lake Como).
SOBRE «a cndunne 4 16. Schists with Halodia.
17. Letten-kohle.
| 18. Muschelkalk (Lombard Alps).
{ 19. Bunter-Sandstone (Regoledo).
20. Verrucano.
In reviewing this series of strata, the author commences with those
which are sufficiently characterized to serve as a geological horizon.
These are the two members of the Lias, Nos. 11 and 12. This
group is well developed in the Vorarlberg and the Tyrol, and parti-
cularly in the Spullers Alps, to the north of Klosterle on the Arlberg
road, and at Elbigenalp in the valley of the Lech.
The stratum No. 11 is that which M. Schafhautl has termed the
Fleckenmergeln. It contains some Fucoids and coaly matter, and
attains a thickness of 400 feet. It has yielded the following fossils :—
Eocene.......:. {
Cretaceous ...
PUPASSIC: Ss...
Ammonites radians, Schl. Ammonites torulosus ?, Schiidl.
A. falcifer ?, Sow. A. Desplacei ?, D’ Ord.
A. annulatus, Schl. A. heterophyllus, Sow.
These are referable, according to M. D’Orbigny, to the Etage Tourcien.
Ammonites planicosta, Sow. Ammonites Regnardi, D’ Ord.
A. margaritatus, Monéf. A. Henleyi, Sow.
A. Valdani, D’ Ord. A. fimbriatus, Sow.
These characterize the Etage Liasien.
Orthoceras (Melia, D’Ord.). Inoceramus Falgeri.
It appears that there is a mélange of fossils in this bed.
The red limestone with hornstone, No. 12, consists of red marly
concretionary limestone, with red and green nodules of hornstone,
and varies in thickness from 20 to 100 feet. The silex sometimes
forms layers which, in the lower part, alternate with limestone a
great number of times. These beds, which appear to be the equiva-
lent of the Lias of Adneth (Salzburg), contain fossils referable to the
Etage Sinémurien, viz.—
Ammonites Bucklandi, Sow. . Nautilus aratus, Schl.
A. Conybeari, Sow. Belemnites brevis, Bl.
A. Turneri ?, Sow.
Consequently, although as yet neither Plagiostoma giganteum nor
Gryphea arcuata have been found in them, these beds without doubt
belong to the Liassic epoch.
18 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
In the Spullers Alp there are beneath the preceding beds Schists
(No. 10) similar in external character to Flysch. These are marly
schists and sandstone, containing debris of plants, flakes of mica,
and impressions of Fuci, and have a thickness of 500 to 600 feet.
Without positively deciding the question of the age of this rock,
M. Escher places it in the lower jurassic series, because it has not
yet afforded either the greenish sandstones* or the Helminthoids
which usually characterize the Flysch. Its Fucoids also have con-
siderable analogy to those of the Lias.
The middle jurassic, No. 9, is represented by a whitish limestone
to the south of Vils. It contains
Terebratula spinosa, Phill. Terebratnla pala, Bueh.
T. concinna, Sow. T. antiplecta, Buch.
The Upper Jurassie Limestone (Jurakalk von Au), No. 8, is met
with in the Bregenzer Wald, between Au and the Mellau Valley,
where it forms the anticlinal of Canisfluh. The fossils are few; two
of the Ammonites are allied to 4. biplew.
The Cretaceous beds occur on the borders of the Alps between
the Rhine and the Ill, and at the Griinten, near Sonthofen. They
resemble those of eastern Switzerland. The author mentions the
Etage Néocomien A, D’Orb. (1500 feet in thickness), with Toxaster
complanatus; and the Htage Néocomien B, or Urgonien, of D’Orb.,
= Schratten-kalk of Studer, or Caprotina-limestone. The latter is
whiter in colour than the former ; it contains
Orbitolina lenticularis, Bronn; near Feldkirch, the Griinten, &c.
Caprotina ammonia, D’Orb. Grinten.
Plicatula asperrima ?, D’Ord. Griinten.
Janira atava, D’ Ord. ; at Sentis.
Ostrea.
Nerinza.
Pentacrinites.
The Greensand (Etage Albien)=Turrilite-Sandstone, 100 feet
thick, has a variable lithological constitution. Fossils are abundant,
and are identical with those of Fis and the Perte du Rhone.
Lastly, the Seewer-kalk, or the Inoceramus-limestone of Seewen
(200 feet thick), represents probably the Etage Cénomanien, E. Turo-
nien, and HL. Sénonien of D’Orbigny.
M. Merian has found on the Liner-gratt, between Prattigau and
the Liiner-see, a boulder full of fossils belonging to the Gosau forma-
tion (Etage Turonien).
The Nummulitic formation, surmounted by the Flysch, occurs in
this region, and is separated from the upper Seewer-kalk by a marl
(100 feet thick) with Ostrea Archiaciana, D’Orb. This is the marl
which, according to Murchison (‘ Alps, Carpathians,’ &c. pp. 186,
193, 201, &c.), presents a lithological passage from the Cretaceous
into the overlying Nummulitic rocks.
The Molasse is divisible into two groups of freshwater formation,
separated by a marine deposit. Between Sibratsgfall and Bregenz the
gravels of the Nagelfluh consist of limestones, and contain little or none
* {We suppose that under this denomination the author refers to the Dioritic
sandstone known as the “ Grés de Taviglianay.”—Ed. B. U. Gén. |
ESCHER—VORARLBERG. 19
of the granite and porphyry so plentiful in the Swiss Nagelfluh. The
Nagelfluh alternates with the sandstones and marls of the Molasse ;
thus proving, contrary to M. von Buch’s opinion, the contempora-
neity of the two groups,—the Nagelfluh being merely a coarse-
grained sandstone.
Having described these more modern formations, M. Escher
reverts to the rocks below the Lias; commencing with No. 13, the
limestone with the Megalodon scutatus, Schaf., which is known also
as the “‘ Dachstein-bivalve.”” This large shell has been wrongly identi-
fied with the Cardium triquetrum of Wulfen. It occurs in a whitish
granular limestone in association with Corals.
The next is the St. Cassian group, No. 14, which has a thickness
of from 30 to 200 feet, and abounds with fossils ; such as
Bactryllium striolatum, Heer. Cardita crenata, Goldf.
B. deplanatum, Heer. Cardium Rheticum, Mer.
Spirifer uncinatus, Schaf. Avicula speciosa, Mer.
Ostrea. A. Escheri, Mer.
Spondylus obliquus, Mtnst. Gervillia inflata, Schaf.
Pecten Falgeri, Mer. Natica alpina, Mer.
P. Lugdunensis, Mich, ? Oliva alpina, Klipst.
It is difficult, however, to determine as yet whether this group is
a marie equivalent of the Upper Keuper of Germany, or whether
the Keuper is incomplete in Germany, not possessing these deposits
which in the Alps occur between the Keuper and the Lower Lias.
The same may be said of the Megalodon-limestone.
Beneath the above-mentioned rocks is Dolomite, No. 15, having a
thickness of 1500 feet. ‘This forms the bare and sterile mountain-
tops of the Vorarlberg.
From the analyses made by M. Landolt (tables of which are given
by M. Escher), it appears that, with regard to the magnesia, this
rock presents many varieties. At one extreme we find
12°23 Carb. of magnesia 49°37 Carb. of magnesia
84-47 Carb. of lime } “tev cateders coins Pion Guru of lie
as the constituent proportions. The analyses made with respect to
the stratigraphical position of the specimens seem to show that the
lower part of the dolomite is more highly charged with magnesia than
the upper portion.
M. Escher is of opinion that there is more than one dolomitic
series ; since the St. Cassian group in the Vorarlberg is underlaid by
dolomite, whilst the same group at St. Cassian itself is overlaid by
dolomite. There also occur great bands of dolomite in the groups
Nos. 16 and 17. Hence it is evident that the succession of the
groups beneath the Lias is less precise than that of those above.
In the Rells Valley, at the Triesnerkulm, and the Col de Virgloria,
the dolomite rests on a red sandstone and a quartzose conglomerate,
which have long been classed with the Grauwacké, but are now in
the map of Switzerland* recognized as Verrucano. At other places
the dolomite rests on Nos. 16 and 17, which evidently belong to the
Trias.
-* Carte géologique de la Suisse; by MM. Studer and Escher v. d. Linth, 1853.
20 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
The Halobia-schist, No. 16 (Lettenkohle), consists of black marl-
slates, and affords the following fossils :—
Bactryllium Schmidii, Heer. Ammonites globosi.
B. Merianii, Heer. Halobia Lommellii, Wissm.
It contains also gypsum (in the Rellsthal), granular dolomites, and
nodules of marly limestone enclosing Pecten, Cardinia’, and Me-
lania?
A series of Quartzose Sandstones and Black Slates, No. 17, hardly
admits of separation from the preceding ; it appears even to alternate
with it; hence the author is of opinion that Nos. 16 and 17 may
represent alternations of freshwater and marine deposits; the latter
being freshwater, and No. 16 marine. This group may be parallel
with the Letten-kohle of the Keuper: it presents the following fos-
sils :—
Equisetum columnare. Cycadites.
Pterophyllum longifolium. Calamites arenaceus.
P. Jegeri.
These, together with its lithological characters, refer it to the Keuper,
and a fish-tooth, which M. von Meyer considers to belong to a Tri-
assic fish, supplies additional evidence. This series is developed in
the Relisthal, at Vadans, the Triesnerkulm, Dalaas, Bludenz, &c.
The Muschelkalk, No. 18, appears only in the Lombard Alps. It
is characterized by
Bactryllium canaliculatum. Myophoriz.
Encrinites liliiformis. Ceratites.
The Bunter Sandstone, No. 19, is seen at Regoledo, where it con-
tains Voltzia heterophylla, Bronn, and Asthophyllum speciosum,
Schimper.
The Verrucano is very variable in composition. The chief mass
consists of a conglomerate, sometimes fine and sometimes coarse, of
pebbles of quartz, often coloured by oxide of iron. In the Rellsthal,
schists represent this series ; sometimes argillaceous, and sometimes
micaceous schists; and near Vadans micaceous schist occurs in red
sandstone (at Hindelang, Vorderjoch, and Thannheim). The red
sandstone is the oldest sedimentary rock of the district.
The metamorphic rocks are numerous in the Vorarlberg. The
following are the principal varieties. Black slates, often found
beneath the great dolomite. Talcose schist (Rheeticon, Valleys of
Samnia and Gamperton). Gypsum. ‘Talcose rocks with garnets,
similar to those of Nuffenen. White limestones with hornblende.
Dolomite. Gneiss (Geisspitz, &c.). Spilite (between the Samnia
and Gamperton Valleys).
From the author’s observations it appears that in the central part
of the Grisons the rocks have a northern direction, and also in the
Paznaun Valley. Near Kappl, however, they appear to have a west
direction.
In conclusion, it appears that the Coal-formation, represented,
ESCHER—VORARLBERG. 21
according to M. Heer, by the anthracite, extending in the French,
Savoy, and Swiss Alps as far as Mont Tédi, is not represented in the
Vorarlberg and the country to the south. It re-occurs in the Stang-
Alp in Styria. It is probable therefore that, at the period when the
carboniferous rocks were deposited in the districts where they now
occur, the Vorarlberg formed an island, the dimensions of which it
is difficult to determine. The researches of M. Escher are not
equally conclusive as to whether it was land at the Permian epoch
and during the commencement of the Trias. At the period of the
formation of the St. Cassian beds and the Lias, however, the district
had long been covered by the sea.
The absence of strata more modern than the Lias and Dolomite
indicates that since the deposition of these the surface has remained
uncovered by the sea. The terrestrial area of the period in question
extended on the west about as far as where the Rhine now flows ; since
further in that direction the Jurassic rocks occur in full development.
To the south it extended to the borders of Lombardy ; in fact, there
are not found any fossils younger than the liassic between the central
Grisons, the Lake Como, and the Valley of Camonica. The south-
ern limit is difficult to fix.
In the western part of Switzerland, as far as the Lake of Lucerne,
there has been no violent dislocation between the Jurassic and the
Cretaceous groups, these being parallel in their disposition. The
passage from the Cretaceous to the Eocene has also been tranquil.
The absence of Eocene beds in the Chain of the Vorarlberg and the
Sentis makes it appear that at the Nummulitic epoch there was in
this region an archipelago, the islands of which were distributed in a
totally different manner to the existing arrangement of the mountain-
tops of the region, observation having shown that most of the sum-
mits of the highest limestone-range of Switzerland, from the Todi to
the Wildhorn, are formed of nummulitic rock.
Between the deposition of the Flysch and that of the Molasse
there was a disturbance of the surface which converted the chain of
the Alps into a continental region ; a condition which prevented the
Molasse from being deposited in the interior of the Chain ; this fact
was recognized long ago. Lastly, the most recent, and perhaps one
of the greatest of the revolutions that have affected this region, is
that which took place after the deposition of the Upper Freshwater
Molasse (which is upraised at Saint-Gall, on the borders of the Lake
of Zurich, and at the Schnebelhorn), and before the formation of
the Lignites of Uznach, Durnten, and Aix-en-Savoie. If, however,
M. C. Meyer, by his researches, definitely classes the Marine Mo-
lasse as Miocene, and connects it on one side with the Molasse of
the South of France, and on the other with the tertiary Vienna basin,
there still remains some doubt as to the exact age of the Upper
Freshwater Molasse, which has a thickness of not less than 1000
feet.
The mammalian remains found in the three stages of the Molasse
do not denote any difference of age ; and the researches of M. Heer
indicate such minute differences, that he is disposed to regard the
22 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
(inmgen deposits (superposed on the Upper Freshwater Molasse)
as belonging to the Miocene period. It results then that the greatest
disturbance affecting the Swiss and Vorarlberg region has taken
place between the Miocene and the Drift periods.
M. Escher adds a Supplement relative to his researches on the
Trias in Northern Lombardy ; and supplies detailed sections of
several localities on the borders of Lake Como, in the Val Brem-
bana, Val Trompia, &c.
M. Heer’s description of Plants and Insects of the Trias and Lias,
illustrative of M. Escher’s researches, follows.
The work is furnished with valuable Tables of the fossils of the
Lias,—of the geological formations in the Vorarlberg and in Lom-
bardy, showing the collated observations of Emmerich, Schafhautl,
von Hauer, Escher, &c.,—of the distribution of the fossils in the
St. Cassian beds of different localities, &c. ; and it is illustrated with
eight 4to Lithograph Plates of the fossils of the Lias, the St. Cassian
beds, Muschelkalk, Keuper, and Bunter-Sandstone, and with two
large plates of Sections, besides several woodcut diagrams in the text.
[T. R. J.]
On the CeEPHALOPODA of the HALLSTATT BEDS.
By F. R. vow Haver.
[Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna, Dec. 7, 1854. ]
M. von Haver described 17 new species of Cephalopods, viz. 14
Ammonites, 2 Nautili, and 1 Orthoceras. These were for the most
part discovered by Dr. Fischer, of Munich, in the environs of Aussee
in Northern Styria; and increase the number of Ammonites pre-
viously known as belonging to these strata by nearly one-half.
None of the species at present known beyond the Alpine Range
are found amongst the numerous specimens collected by Dr. Fischer ;
nor is this surprising, since the results of recent investigations
entitle us to consider the Hallstatt beds to be an upper Triassic
deposit, wanting beyond the Alps,—or perhaps represented else-
where by the Keuper, which is so poor in marine fossils, and espe-
cially destitute (as far as our present information goes) of Cepha-
lopods.
"The features of this Cephalopod-fauna of the Hallstatt beds corre-
spond exactly with the geological position assigned to them. It
forms a connecting link between the faunas of the Secondary and
Paleozoic periods, including genera known to belong to the most
ancient deposits, as for instance, Orthoceras, completely evolute
Nautili, and Ammonites with smooth lobes and saddles, together
with Ammonites of the arietes, heterophylli, and ceratite families,
exhibiting an evidently jurassic type.
The Hallstatt beds have also afforded two Corals (described by
Prof. Reuss, in connexion with M. von Hauer’s memoir); one of
them belonging to the genus Isastrea ; the other being a Fletcheria,
a genus which has been thought until now to be peculiar to the Si-
lurian strata. [Count MarscHALt. |
HORNES—SANDLING FOSSILS. LEYDOLT—CRYSTALS. 23
On the Gasteroropa and AcrPuata of the SANDLING MARBLE.
By Dr. M. Hornes.
[Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, February 15, 1855.]
Tuis is a notice by M. Hérnes on the Gasteropoda and Acephala
discovered in the Marble beds of Sandling, near Aussee, by Dr. Fis-
cher, Physician to the Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. The Cephalo-
pods occurring in the analogous strata of Hallstatt have been described
by M. von Hauer*, the Corals by M. Reuss, and the Brachiopods
by M. Suess{. The other molluscs of this Fauna, however, were but
very little known before Dr. Fischer had recently succeeded in ex-
tracting from this hard marble 30 species of molluscs, nearly all
previously undescribed, and one of them being the type of a new
genus, named Platystoma by Hornes.
The fauna of this group, comprising about 70 species of Cepha-
lopods (among them are some of gigantic size), bears a peculiar
facies, quite distinct from that of any extra-Alpine European deposit.
Some forms resemble palzeozoic types, whilst others exhibit a de-
cidedly jurassic character. The Hallstatt and Sandling limestones
present a distant resemblance to the St. Cassian series, and, like the
latter, may be supposed to be a local deposit confined to the Alpine
district. [Count MarscHALt. |
On the INTIMATE STRUCTURE of MINERALS, as exhibited by the
action of Hyproruvuoric Acip. By Prof. Leypo tr.
[Proceedings of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, December 12, 1854.]
In this communication Prof. Leydolt gave an explanation of the
method which he had invented to demonstrate the intimate structure
and composition of crystallized and non-crystallized inorganic sub-
stances by submitting them to the corrosive action of diluted Hydro-
fluoric Acid ; the planes and cavities produced by the action of this
menstruum on the surface of the substances submitted to it being
immediately connected with the crystallographic system to which
they belong, and with the position of the axis.
Prof. Leydolt exhibited several varieties of Rhombohedric Quartz
treated in this manner. Complete crystals of this mineral, which
had been exposed to the action of the acid, show on the edges of
their hexagonal pyramids small planes, situated sometimes on their
left, and sometimes on their right side. These planes, produced on
plates cut perpendicularly to the crystallographic axis, may be sub-
servient to the recognition whether any crystal of quartz is a binary
combination of two individuals turning right or left, even when no
difference is to be discovered by investigation of the optical pheeno-
mena. Prof. Leydolt has applied to the etched surfaces produced
by his mode of operating the method invented by Sir David Brewster
* See above, p. 22. + Ibid.
t See the Anniversary Address, in this No., p. Ixvi.
24 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
to reproduce the interferential colours of mother-of-pearl, of Barton’s
*Tris-button,’ &c. By covering the etched surfaces with a thin
layer of isinglass, he obtams impressions fit for microscopical exami-
nation, both by transmitted and by reflected light. Similar impres-
sions taken on the etched surfaces of arragonite, iron-pyrites, and
other minerals were also exhibited. [Count MarscuHa tt. |
On TerTtary Fossits from BELGRADE. By Dr. M. Hornes.
[Proceedings of the Imp. Geol. Instit. Vienna, December 12, 1854.]
A suite of fossils and rock-specimens forwarded by Prof. Pancic
from the environs of Belgrade were found by M. Hornes to agree
with the organic remains and mineral deposits of the Vienna basin.
M. Hornes thinks the arenaceous clays near Radowitza, south of
Belgrade, to be equivalent to the tertiary strata of Baden near
Vienna, or to those of Lapugy in Transylvania. The deposits of
Tasmajdan, Knezevac, and Vischnitza were regarded as belonging to
the Leitha-limestone ; and those of Mokrilug and Belaboga, together
with the hill on which the fortress of Belgrade is built, were referred.
to the Cerithium-beds. .
Notwithstanding the geological information on the environs of
Belgrade resulting from the researches of MM. Boué and Viquesnel,
a more complete knowledge of the probably abundant fossil fauna of
the district is highly desirable. The late M. Fuchs forwarded to
M. Partsch a drawing of a Caprina, which goes to confirm M.
Viquesnel’s statement that Belgrade is situated at the foot of a
cretaceous range surrounded by tertiary deposits.
[Count MARSCHALL. ]
On CLINocHLORE and Mica. By Col. N. von Koxscuarov.
[M. Haidinger’s Report, Imp. Geol. Instit. Vienna, November 7, 1854.]
Tue name “ Clinochlore” has been given by Mr. Blake to a mineral
species from Westchester, Pennsylvania, which exhibits two optical
axes. Lieut.-Col. Kokscharov, by carefully measuring the angles of
the crystals in the variety from Achmatowsk (Ripidolite of Kobell,
Chlorite of G. Rose), found these angles in concordance with the
optical pheenomena observed in this mineral.
M. Kokscharov also, by exactly measuring the angles of complete
crystals of Mica, brought from Mount Vesuvius by M. Abich, has
proved their forms to belong really to the Orthotypic System (as
M. de Senarmont had supposed), although they bear the character
of Macrodomous Orthotypes generally occurring among augitic
erystals. [Count MARSCHALL. ]
TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES
OF
GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
On the Bracutoropa of the Kossen Strata in the Tyrou. By
Epwarp Suess, Assistant in the I. R. Museum of Mineralogy.
[Denkschrift. Kais. Akad. Wissensch. Mat. Nat. Cl. vol. vii. part 2, pp. 29-65,
with 4 lith. plates*. }
My object in this Memoir, which investigates the mode of appear-
ance of a special animal group in certain strata of our mountain
ranges, is firstly to make a paleontological comparison and paral-
lelism between these strata and foreign localities,—then to describe
the peculiar forms of Brachiopods that are met with in these par-
ticular deposits.
The generality of our public, especially the paleontologists, are
but imperfectly aware of the geological constitution of our Alps.
The strata called here “inferior lias’? are in many points very
different from their homonyms in England or Suabia.
I think the explanation of the term “‘Ioessen Strata”’ will be the
best introduction to this Memoir. Although this term is adopted
by the generality of our Austrian geologists, and notwithstanding we
may in a short time expect to see these strata and their relations
illustrated by our excellent geologist, Fr. von Hauert+, it will not be
out of place here to give a general view of the geographical exten-
sion of these strata and to explain the evidence of this group being
a member of the inferior lias and not of the muschelkalk. We
may assert these conclusions to be, in the first place, due to palzeonto-
logical researches ; and, their results having been confirmed by recent
geognostical investigations, the group may be regarded as occupying
a well-determined position in the geologic series.
When Austrian geologists began to give names to peculiar strata in
order to establish a terminology independent of the changes or con-
flicts of theoretical views, the name of ‘‘ Koessen Strata”’ was applied
to black or dark-grey limestones, often marly or interstratified with
* See also ‘ Sitzungs-berichte d. mat. nat. Classe d. Kais. Akad. d. Wiss.,’
March 1853, vol. x. p. 283; Escher von der Lith, on the Vorarlberg, Mém. Soc.
Helv. vol. xiii., and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 42, Miscell. p. 16; F. von Hauer,
on the Hallstatt Cephalopoda, bid. p. 22; M. Hornes on the Sandling fossils,
ibid. p. 23.
+ See Jahrb. K. K. Geol. Reichsanst. 1853, pp. 715, &c.
VOL. XI.—PART II. D
26 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
marl, and differing from the much deeper black limestones of the
variegated sandstone (now called “ Guttenstein Strata” by Fr..von
Hauer) by their want of lamination, and by the abundance of fossils,
especially of Brachiopods and other Bivalves, contained in them.
Hence the name of “ Koessen Strata’’ was applied to the Gervillia-
and Avicula-limestone near Bad Kreuth, described by Von Buch
(Abhandl. d. Berlin. Akad. 1827, p. 82), to the lias limestone of the
Mertlbach (Gaisau) as represented by Messrs. Sedgwick, Murchison,
and Lill de Lilienbach in the last author’s second section, and espe-
cially to the whole formation called Gervillia-strata by MM. Emmrich
and Schafhautl.
The comparison of the numerous fossils soon proved these Koes-
sen beds to be part of the lias; and subsequent palzeontological re-
searches introduced a great change in the limits originally assigned
to the above term. Rocks, apparently quite similar as to their ex-
terior aspect, were shut out on account of their aberrant palzeonto-
logical character, and others, of completely different petrographical
character, but concordant by their fossil contents, were comprised
in the Koessen group. I will now attempt a brief sketch of the
separate members of the group: the study of the whole cannot fail to
show that an exact investigation of fossils is only the sure foundation
for a correct knowledge of our calcareous Alps.
I. Koessen Strata, properly so called.
Synonyms :—Upper St. Cassian, t+, Escher and Merian; Gervillia
Limestones, Emmrich; Gervillia Limestones and Slates of the
Whetstone Formation, Schafhautl.
These strata are generally black, and differ, by the characters above
mentioned, from the Guttenstein strata which belong to the muschel-
kalk. Other similar black limestones, containing Brachiopods of
the upper lias (Hierlatz strata), e.g. those of the Stambachgraben
near Goisern, must be carefully separated from them.
The genuine hiassic Brachiopods contained im these strata are,—
Spirifer rostratus, Schloth., Sp. Muensteri, Dav., Terebratula cor-
nuta, Sow., and ERhynchonelia obtusifrons, Sss. Of other genera I
quote for the most part on Von Hauer’s authority,—Nucula com-
planata, Phill., Pinna folium, Young and Bird, Lima gigantea, Sow.,
Pecten liasinus, Nyst.
According to M. Stur’s investigation, these strata near Schloss
Enzesfeld are in close connexion with a yellowish-brown limestone,
containing, together with the same species of Brachiopods, a notable
number of lower liassic remains of genera rarely met with elsewhere
in the Koessen strata. Such are, as Von Hauer kindly commu-
nicated to me, Ammonites bisulcatus, Brug., Amm. obliquicostatus,
Ziet., Amm. Kridion, Hehl., Amm. Moreanus, d’Orb., and Pleuro-
tomaria expansa, Goldf. |
The numerous localities which afford the above-mentioned Bra-
chiopods are sufficient to point out the extraordimary geographical
range of these strata. Without reckoning the localities recently dis-
SUESS—KOSSEN BRACHIOPODA. 27
covered in Switzerland as far as the neighbourhood of the lake of
Geneva, the closer investigation of which is of the greatest interest,
we are quite warranted in tracing the Koessen strata from the
Brandner Ferner on the frontier of Vorarlberg to the immediate
vicinity of Vienna. They extend undoubtedly from 27° to 34° long.
along the northern declivity of the Alps, the line joining the most
distant known localities being above 100 geographical miles in length.
The localities where the Brachiopods have been found are distri-
buted in the following manner. The most eastern are close to the
great break in the Alpine accessory zone between Vienna aud Glogg-
nitz (Gumpolts Kirchen, Helenathal and Siegenfeld near Baden,
Hirtenberg, and Enzesfeld); there are others more to the west near
Harnstein, and the richest are in the upper valley of the Piesting, as
far as the Klosterthal (Walleg, Oed, Mandlinger Wand, Kitzberg near
Pernitz, Frohberg near Weidmansfeld). To the northward there
are some in the environs of Kleinzell (near the Unterer Hebenbauer),
and to the southward at the Fadner-Kogel near Buchberg ; westward,
at the Tiirnitzer Hogerkogel, and also in the environs of Maria-zell
(Grash in the Hallthal, Biirger-Alpe). As Von Hauer observes, the
above-named localities are limited northward by the curved tract of
variegated sandstone which marks the rupture of the extreme northern
wave of elevation (Aufstauungs-Welle). M. Czjzek found them only
at one place in the region of the variegated sandstone, viz., at Rat-
terbash near Frankenfels. The Koessen strata on the northern de-
clivity of the Alps are divided into an eastern and a western region by
the advance of the variegated sandstone, from which they are almost
entirely excluded nearly as far as the central Alpine mass. After all, I
do not think such limitation of any particular importance, as it could
possibly have originated subsequently to the deposit of these rocks and
on account of the position of the central axis ; and the more so, since
no striking paleontological or petrographical difference has been
pointed out between the eastern and the western portion.
As all the above-quoted localities are at a considerable distance
from the central mass, we may conclude that the Koessen strata are
wanting in the mountain masses which in the Valley of the Enns
form the great fracture accompanying the crystalline rocks. They
are not met with near the mass of the Dachstein, nor probably in
any of the mountains of the vicinity (Sarstein, Grimming, &c.).
Generally the localities are very much scattered in this portion of the
Alps ; and are just sufficient te point out the connexion of the richest
extreme eastern and western localities along the northern declivity.
Brachiopods characteristic of the Koessen strata are found at the
Schaf berg (between the Vonmauer and the Miinchen-See), near Aussee
(Scheibenweisenweg to the Moosberg), near Salzburg (Schobergraben
near Adneth, Merlbach near Gaisau), and at the Baukengraben
(Steier ).
The environs of Unken and Loper, so diligently investigated by
MM. Emmrich and Peters, exhibit Koessen strata at several places;
and further west lies Koessen, the typical locality. The exact place
is in the Klamm between Koessen and Reit, on the Austrio-Ba-
D2
28 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
varian frontier. The researches of MM. Emmrich and Schafhautl,
and a collection from this country kindly communicated to me by
M. Schlagintweit*, prove that these strata exist around Woessen and
Hochfellen (north and north-eastof Koessen), also at the Wendelstein,
near the mineral bath of Kreut, near the Gruberalpe at the Salzberg
(von Buch), at the foot of the Hohe Kramer and of the Zugspitz,
at the Wetterstein, and in the Leuctasch valley. MM. Emmrich
and Schafhiutl have published several notices of these localities.
From these points a considerable number of localities extend
through Tirol, Vorarlberg, and the canton of Grison; in some of them
MM. Escher von der Linth and P. Merian have recently found
the same fossils as those which are regarded as the most characteristic
of the Koessen strata around Vienna. These well-ascertained localities
are connected by others, where isolated fossils have been found, but
which I do not mention here, as the above enumeration is quite
sufficient to prove the continuity of the whole line. The rich
localities in the Vorarlberg and in the valley of the Lech may
undoubtedly find their proper place among this series ; so that the
Koessen strata may be considered as a formation extending from
west to east between the Brandner Ferner and Gumpoltskirchen near
Vienna.
We know far less about the southern declivity of the Alps; but
the Dachstein limestone, which also belongs to the Koessen group
and plays so important a part in the central chain, being highly
developed there, we may expect that the continued researches of the
Imperial Geological Institute will there discover still more distinct
traces of the Koessen strata.
The Museum at Innsbruck contains fossils, collected between the
Rauchkofel and Lienz, which are considered by M. von Hauer to
belong to the Koessen series ; similar fossils are also said to have been
found by MM. Escher and Merian in the environs of the Lake of
Como in the Val Brembana, Val Seriana and Val Trompia, and they
may be supposed to exist too in the Val di Amone near Roveredo.
Dr. Lavissaro communicated to the Imperial Geological Institute a
series of silicified fossils, imbedded in a dark grey siliceous limestone ;
among these were Spirifer rostratus, Sp. Muensteri, and an undeter-
minable Rhynchonella; Spirifer rostratus is found at Tremona in
a black marly limestone (Studer, Geolog. d. Schweitz, vol. i. p. 481).
The Lyceum of Bergamo also has communicated a fossil not distin-
guishable from Gervillia inflata, from the black limestone of Monte
Misma.
II. Starhemberg Strata and Dachstein Limestone.
The Starhemberg Strata consist of yellowish or reddish limestone,
intercalated as thin layers in the Dachstein limestone. Their fauna
is quite identical with that of the Koessen Strata; only two or three
very rare species are known which have not yet been found also
in the latter formation. The Brachiopods appear in very great
* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. p. 348.
SUESS—KOSSEN BRACHIOPODA. 29
numbers, but, some Rhynchonelle excepted, only as single shells ; so
that their determination is extremely difficult. This circumstance
and the appearance of the rock in the form of thin and often-
repeated lavers in the massive Dachstein limestone justifies the
opinion, that the Starhemberg Strata have been formed of loose
materials carried by partial currents from a coast abounding in shells
into the open sea. Nevertheless a more careful inquiry shows some-
times extensive local beds of a star-coral, also met with in the Koessen
strata, which form the lower limit of one of the intercalated Star-
hemberg beds. This phzenomenon is particularly evident at the
typical locality in the Piesting valley, in front of the castle of
Starhemberg, westward of Piesting; so the Starhemberg strata
might perhaps be considered more correctly as ‘“colonies”’ be-
longing to the Koessen strata. Few localities, and these very di-
stant from each other, are known at present ; yet their petrographical
and palzeontological characters are very constant. The most eastern
are near Hirtenberg and around Piesting (south and westward, at
Salzmann’s, near the cottage called Teufel, in front of Starhem-
berg, &c.). They occur to the westward near Tonion in the Miirz
valley ; then, after a long interval, near the Grimming in the Enns
valley, and finally at Kirchholz near Adneth. They are also to be
met, but without any fossils, on some intermediate places, e. g. in
the Dachstein Mountains. Perhaps we know so little at present
about these certainly extensive strata only because, owing to their
position in the Dachstein limestone, the places where they come to
the surface are situated on inaccessible cliffs.
The Dachstein limestone (Megalodus limestone of Schafhautl and
Escher) having, with only one and that not yet well-determined ex-
ception, furnished no Brachiopods, I shall only briefly refer to it. It
is known to form a very important portion of our mountain-masses,
and to extend, together with the Koessen strata, from the western
frontier of Vorarlberg to the vicinity of Vienna. It is recognized
at many localities in the southern Alps, e. g. the valley of the Adige
near Trient, where it appears most distinctly.
We do not confine the denomination of Dachstein limestone to the
upper strata, containing the Dachstein bivalve; on the contrary, we
extend it to the whole mass of white, yellowish, or greyish limestones
occupying sometimes the whole interval from the uppermost members
of the trias up to the upper lias, and exhibiting in their fossiliferous
intercalated layers a fauna agreeing with that of the Koessen strata.
In the Dachstein Mountains, the whole group forming the subject of
this memoir is exclusively represented by the Dachstein limestone
and its intercalated beds.
Some of these intercalated layers offer particularities singular
enough to deserve a detailed exposition. Those containing Rhyz-
chonella pedata are the most apparent among them. A series of
localities, extending from the Hohewand near Wiener-Neustadt to
the Tannerkopf and the Kénigsbach Alpe in Bavaria, have acquainted
us with strata which, although very variable in their petrographical
aspect, are connected by a singular particularity, containing, as far
30 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. ©
as they are at present known, no other fossil but Rhynchonella pe-
data, often in such numbers that it forms the principal mass of the
rock.
The position of these strata is not yet satisfactorily investigated :
as they appear at the Werflinger Wand in the midst of the Dach-
stein limestone district, we may provisionally place them among the
lias. They are of a bluish grey at the Hohe Wand,—white and yel-
lowish near both Lahngang Lakes,—generally black, and the Rhyn-
chonelle in them frequently silicified, near Aussee; near Hallstadt
they appear of a greyish-white colour and are interrupted with brick-
red and yellow layers.
The so-called Lithodendron limestones are white, and do not seem
to be separated from the including Dachstein-limestone by any
striking petrographical character, so that in future they may be
united with it under the designation of fossiliferous layers. They are
still unknown in the eastern portion of our Alps, and the only loca-
lities for them with us are the western slope of the Loser near
Aussee, and the Weisse Wand near Unken. ‘The only Brachiopods
they contain are Spirifer Muensteri, at both localities, and with it.
Rhynchonella cornigera at Unken; besides these, they contain also
Plicatula intusstriata and a Pecten, which seems to be met with
also in the Koessen strata. According to M. Peters’s investigations,
the black Koessen strata near Unken and Lofer underlie the limestone
with Megalodon triqueter, as they do in Vorarlberg, and this white
limestone itselfincludes the Lithodendron strata; so that these three
formations must necessarily be combined in one principal group.
Other localities are mentioned in the Bavarian Voralpen; M. Schaf-
hautl’s white oolitic limestones with Rhynch. cornigera (Leonh. u.
Bronn’s Jahrbuch, 1853, p. 299) may possibly find their place
among them. All the observations at present known agree in their
having been constantly seen at a lower horizon than the black
Koessen strata.
Certain strata discovered by M. Emmrich near Unken, and sub-
sequently investigated by M. Peters, but not yet sufficiently cleared up
as to their stratigraphical relations, show similar phenomena; they
consist of white, yellowish, or reddish limestones quite filled with
several species of Avicula, which are elsewhere found in the Koessen
strata and sometimes frequent in the lias of other countries.
These strata deserve the particular attention of future observers,
as their more complete investigation may prove useful in solving
several still undecided questions. M. Lipold has brought from the
Gois- or Schober-graben, in the Wiesthal near Adneth (one of the
richest localities for Koessen fossils), some black and very bituminous
slates, containing remains of fishes, and a large quantity of one of
these Avicule, viz. Avicula contorta, Portl. Subsequent observa-
tions must show how far these strata are connected with the well-
known fish-slates of Seefeld. M.Schafhautl and the Tyrol geologists
have placed these bituminous slates among formations which we can
only recognize as the equivalents of the Koessen strata.
The Koessen, Starhemberg, and Lithodendron or Avicula strata,
SUESS—KOSSEN BRACHIOPODA. 31
although very different in petrographical character, are connected with
each other by their fossils; their peculiar faunas being but special
modifications of the richer one in the Koessen strata, which embraces
nearly all the species of the others. Two abnormal members, viz.
the Dachstein limestone and the strata with Rhynchonella pedata, are
connected stratigraphically with the above-mentioned palzeontologi-
eally united group. The peculiar stratigraphical relations produced
by the intimate connexion of all these subdivisions must be carefully
examined. If e.g. the black Koessen strata be said to be a for-
mation extending from the Brandner Ferner to Gumpoltskirchen, this
assertion does not imply that all the points belong really to one and the
same line. M. Peters mentions these beds as occurring near Unken
and Lofer between two limestones, both of which ought to be placed
with the Dachstein limestone; nor is this surprising after what is
known concerning the fauna of the Starhemberg strata; the farther
solution of these questions must be left to geological investigations
of the localities.
The whole series of these strata lies upon the Hallstatt strata, which
contain the fossils of St. Cassian and belong to the Upper Mus-
chelkalk ; it is covered by strata containing, In some rare cases,
fossils of the upper lias, and having so few species identical with
those of the immediately overlying strata, and generally so different
from them by the appearance of a rich fauna of Cephalopods and
Gasteropods, that we are warranted in considering them as the supe-
rior portions of the lias formation. Nor is there any doubt of the
age of this group of strata, with respect to their stratigraphical relation.
If we indeed admit this group, in which the Dachstein limestone
alone has frequently a thickness of several thousand feet, to be an
equivalent of the lower lias, we must own that such a development
of a subordinate division in the secondary rocks is scarcely to be
met with in any other country.
This vast development of single members must be the cause of a
great many peculiarities. Wherever the Dachstein limestone appears
im such force, the lower strata bear no traces of organic life. The
levelling influence of such an enormous deposit, and the decrease of
the water-depth depending on it, is evidenced by the appearance of
fossils at only some thousand feet above the lowest limit of the
Dachstein limestone, e.g. inthe Echern Thal. The strata with Rhyn-
chonella pedata may have corresponded to a rather low horizon.
A consideration of the limits of the contemporaneous seas, as de-
termined by the orographic relations existing at this remote epoch,
may be useful for the better comprehension of these facts, taken in
their totality. A number of geological maps, e. g. the littoral
map of the Jurassic Seas, published by Gressly, exhibit the con-
tinent of the Schwarzwald and the Vosges, and to the south-westward
the central table-land of France, as rising above the level of the
liassic deposits. Notwithstanding, we still have no proof of these
waters having covered the whole of eastern or south-eastern Switzer-
land.
M. Studer says, ‘‘ We enter a new region on the opposite bank
32 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
of the Rhine ; peculiar organic remains, different from anything we
got a notion of from the Dauphiné and Savoy thoughout the north-
ern calcareous zone of the Swiss Alps, compel us to search elsewhere
for points of comparison*.”? One of the most remarkable facts,
recently ascertained by M. Escher von der Linth, is the sudden
termination of all these formations along the valley of the Rhine,
between Chur and the Lake of Constance. The Swiss geologists sup-
pose the inferior oolite of the Calanda to immediately follow rocks of
a far older epoch; the mighty masses of triassic and liassic rocks, so
conspicuous on the opposite side of the Rhine, are completely missed
on this place; the correspondence of these pheenomena with the dis-
cordance between the upper lias and the inferior oolite, as observed in
several of our Austrian localites, is very strikmg ; and perhaps one
of the most violent upheavings of the eastern Alps may be referred
to this period.
Another mass never covered by liassic waters is what may be
called the “‘ Bohemian continent,’’ which comprises not only Bohe-
mia by itself, but also the whole of the granitic and gneiss rocks
forming table-lands throughout the larger part of Austria, northwards
of the Danube, between Passau and Krems, frequently appearing on
this side of the Danube also and near St. Leonhard, not far from
Pochlarn, advancing their southern extremity to a distance of only
one and a half geographical miles from the alpine limestone. When
treating of the Gresten strata, we shall speak of the necessary influ-
ence of so extensive a continental mass on the fauna of the neighbour-
ing seas; its farther influence on the elevation of the Alpine rocks, and
how far the flexure of the northernmost tract of variegated sandstone
depends upon its outline, must be cleared up by future investigations.
We cannot leave our subject without some allusion to the crys-
tallme rocks of the central eastern Alpine chain, standing in im-
mediate relation to the Alpine limestones. At present the ques-
tion of the existence of a continent above the level of the sea on the
place now occupied by these mighty mountains, can scarcely meet
with a satisfactory answer. ‘The majority of facts are opposed to
it ; at all events it may not have formed a continuous mass; who-
ever has wandered through one of the principal valleys, separating
the central chain from the Alpine limestones, may easily agree with
this opinion. On one side, the crystalline slates, whose rounded
slopes are covered with forests, and frequently cut through by
parallel secondary valleys, amply provided with water, tower higher
and higher up to the mighty masses of the Grassglockner, Anthogel,
&c., giving a magnificent background to the whole scenery; the
opposite slope of the valley offers a great contrast by its vertical
limestone cliffs, arising suddenly to the height of many thousand feet
amidst the variegated sandstones, covered with meadows and di-
spersed human habitations. These natural walls, rivalling in white-
ness the snow that covers the tops, run through a line of several
German miles without being imterrupted by any secondary valley ;
the strata are all broken up, and where should their continuation
* Geol. d. Schweitz, vol. ii. p. 196.
SUESS—KOSSEN BRACHIOPODA. as
be searched after if not on the opposite side of the central mass*?
The fauna of the Koessen strata is no more favourable to the hypo-
thesis of a former continent on the region at present occupied by the
Alps, than is the petrographical character of the limestones them-
selves, which, even on this spot, show a particular degree of purity.
Ill. Gresten Strata.
Black, marly limestones and dark sandstones, with rich coal-beds
and liassic fossils, are found in the portion of our Alps nearest to the
southern extremity of the ‘Bohemian continent”; they contain these
Brachiopods—Spirifer rostratus, Sp. Muensteri, and Terebratula
cornuta, which species are also found in the Koessen strata, but no
other species are common to both groups. Other genuine hassic
fossils of the Gresten strata (for the most part determined by M. von
Hauer) are—Mactromya cardioides, Phill. sp., Cardinia Listeri,
Sow. sp., Pholadomya ambigua, Sow., Phol. Hausmanni, Goldf.,
Phol. decorata, Hartm., Goniomya rhombifera, Goldf. sp., Pleu-
romya unioides, Goldf. sp., Nucula complanata, Phill., Pinna folium,
Young and Bird, Lima gigantea, Desh., and Pecten liasinus, Nyst. ;
the following are common to the Gresten and Koessen strata—
Avicula intermedia, Nucula complanata, Pinna folium, Lima gigantea,
and Pecten liasinus. 'They contain a rather considerable flora, in-
vestigated by MM. Unger and v. Ettingshausen, many species of
which are known in the lias or the keuper of other countries.
Generally the Gresten strata are very rich in bivalves, e.g. Mye;
but, like the Koessen strata, are very deficient in Gasteropods and
Cephalopods; yet the rich flora of the first imdicates an essential
difference, confirmed by closer investigation. The Gresten strata
present a certain analogy with the keuper, as far as they bear the
character of deposits formed in the neighbourhood of a content; a
_ Supposition strengthened by their rich coal-deposits.
Plants only, and no molluscs, occur in the greater number of
localities. I have seen Brachiopods from Rohrbach (north-west. of
Hainfeld), from Gresten, from the Ferdinand-Stollen at Gaming,
and from the Eleonora-Schacht at Grossau; and, farther south-
westward, from the environs of Weyer in the Pechgraben, especially
near Steinau; and farther to the south-west, from the Fiirstenham-
mer. The ideal line, uniting the two most distant localities, Bern-
reuth and the Pechgraben, does not exceed ten (German) miles in
length.
The researches as yet made are too few to allow of a farther dis-
cussion on the relations between the Gresten and the Koessen strata ;
these are more strictly separated, in paleeontological as well im geo-
graphical respects, than any of the other groups mentioned in this
memoir, nor can their differences be sufficiently explamed by the
influence of a neighbouring shore, until we find intermedial localities
* No metamorphic rocks, as they appear at the Radstidter Tauern and at other
places, are at present known in the corresponding portion of the central mass; so
e. g. they are wanting at the foot of the Dachstein.
34 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.
demonstrative of this explanation ; as things stand at present, we can
merely place them separately.
Prof. Unger was the first who recognized the liassic nature of these
strata (Wiener Zeitung, 20th of January, 1845; Leonh. u. Bronn’s
Jahrbuch, 1848, p. 279) ; and M. Kudernatsch has given a detailed
geological description of them (Jahrbuch der K. K. Geolog. Reichs-
anstalt, 1852, vol. i. p. 44).
The time is not yet come to decide about the affinity of these
strata with the frequently quoted plant-bearing schists in the western
regions of the eastern Alps, which may perhaps prove to be a connect-
ing link between the Gresten and the Koessen strata.
The reports of the geologists who have surveyed this rather
limited district agree in representing the Gresten strata as resting
immediately on the Guttenstein strata,—a very unexpected circum-
stance, perhaps to be explained by future observations.
IV. Relation of the Koessen beds with the St. Cassian beds and
the Las.
Having detailed the whole of the facts, and enumerated the
fossils, which may induce us to rank this group among the lias, I
will briefly discuss the reasons given by some geologists for parallel-
izing some of its members with the St. Cassian formation. The
whole series of Koessen fossils gives us but three species identical
with those of St. Cassian, viz. Cardita crenata, the so-called Spon-
dylus obliquus (whose identity seems doubtful even to M. Emmrich),
and Actneonina alpina, quoted by M. Merian, but without giving
its locality. The