Dr. Mac Cullocli on the Lignites. 211 



the same series that we must refer what is called the Kimmeridge 

 coal of England, consisting rather of bituminous shale, than of 

 true lignite, and also that of the Cleaveland district of Yorkshire. 

 Such also appears to be the coal field of Brora in Sutherland, of 

 which the singular position on the granite has been noticed by 

 myself elsewhere ; and also, it is probable, that of the Western 

 Isles of Scotland. 



Of the lignite which occurs at Frankenberg, the geological 

 position is doubtful ; and it is found also in Thuringia, at Pernitz 

 near Vienna, at Wolfseck, Wandorf, near Haagen, and in many 

 other places, where it is wrought for coal ; as is the case in 

 Bohemia and Hungary ; the mines of Buda, in particular, being 

 remarkable. I cannot discover that the geological positions of 

 these, and of some others which I need not quote, are clearly un- 

 derstood ; but it is certain that some of them have been mistaken 

 for the true coal series. The same error seems to have been com- 

 mitted respecting that of Bornholm, of which the correspondences 

 extend wide over the north, as is also true of that at the foot of 

 the Apennines, which, occurs in the Vicentin and Veronese, at 

 Castelnuova, and elsewhere, accompanied by trap. Some lignite 

 beds occurring in certain parts of America, seem also to have 

 been similarly mistaken ; but I need not prolong the enumeration 

 of localities among such obscure examples. If I name that lately 

 found in the north, at Melville islands, it is chiefly on account of 

 the presence of such a substance in regions of which the vegetation 

 is now so cramped. 



It seems now admitted by Brongniart, to whom we are in- 

 debted for a more accurate account of the following localities, 

 that the supposed coal of the south of France is a lignite forma- 

 tion, occupying a higher part of the series than the last examples, 

 and lying in the green-sand deposite. There are extensive mines 

 of this in Provence, about Marseilles and Toulon, where twenty* 

 eight beds are wrought ; and it abounds also at Soissons, Eper- 

 nay, Laon, St. Paulet, and some other places in France. That of 

 Annecy in Savoy, which is also wrought for coal, is referred to 

 the same position. So also is that of Putzburg and Lobsann, and 



