^08 Catalogue Raisonn^. 



univalves,' (there are no well determined species of simple or spiral uni- 

 valves.) The species of bivalves belong chiefly to the genera Tarantula, 

 Gryphaja, Astraea, and Exogyra of JSay, but they are not very numerous. 

 Some well determined genera of Echinidese, Crustacea, and, Zoophytes, 

 are also mentioned. 



Inquiry into the circumstances under which the Remains of some 

 Fossil Animals were accumulated in the volcanic soil of the Velay, 

 in France. By S. Hibbkbt, M.D. F.R.S.E. &c. — Ed. Jourri. of 

 Science, No. V. 



The lowest rocks of the Velay are crystalline, and are surmounted by se- 

 dimentary deposits, probably of quadersandstein. This district was sub- 

 sequently the seat of a series of lakes, which deposited formations of sandy 

 days, potter's clay, marly and gypseous beds, &c. characterized by the 

 moilusca and mammifera of the tertiary formations. These are suc- 

 ceeded by a deposit of brown coal, consisting, according to Dr. Hibbert, 

 of birch, willow, alder, &c. with fresh water fish, frogs, lizards, and 

 numerous insects. This brown coal alternates with vegetable and earthy 

 matter. It is covered (at Roche Lambert) by white micaceous sand 

 and clay, with fragments of quartz and feldspar, or by quartzose sand, 

 (at Aubepin,) with hydrate of iron. It appears that the forests not cover- 

 ed with these sands, are those which contain the bones of various species 

 of Cervi, of the Rhinoceros leptorhinus of Italy, and the Hyaena speliea. 

 Volcanic eruptions broke forth at this period, marked by trachytes and 

 basalt ; and torrents of lava, ejections of scoriae, and deposits of tufa, 

 spread themselves over the country. The brown coal, (at Collet, Ronzal, 

 <*cc.) alternates with trachytes, phonolites, basalts, and volcanic cinders. 

 Dr. Hibbert accounts for some of these alternations, by supposing the 

 Loire to be dammed up at the gorge of Chamelieres by dikes of lava, 

 and to have formed two lakes, in which these deposits were formed, and 

 he has ingeniously applied the same theory to account for many other 

 interesting facts connected with the volcanic and transpoted soil of the 

 Velay. 



Notice of a Submarine Forest in Largo Bay, in the Frith of 

 Forth. By the Rev. Dr. Fleming of Flisk. — Brande's Journ. 

 March 1830. 



The rocks on which this forest rest, belong to the medial order, and are 

 accompanied by traps. The soft bed on which it is immediately incum- 

 bent, consists of brown laminated clay, which may be referred to^lacus- 

 trine silt. Sands and fine gravel cover the deposit, also of fresh water 

 origin ; and over them is a bed of peat, composed of the remains of land 

 and fresh Avater origin. The trees interspersed are generally birch, ha- 

 zel, and alder. The nuts of the hazel were hkewise observable. The 

 clay is now burrowed by the Pholas Candida, and the peat contains a 

 Spio, named by the author S. emarginatus. The author connects the 

 phenomena presented by these quaternary formations, with the suppo- 

 sition that the space now occupied by the German Ocean was formerly 

 a fresh water lake. 



Sur une nouvelle, Sfc. On a New Species of Fossil Bear, 

 Ursus Pitorii. By Marcel de Serres, in a Letter to Baron 

 de Fernssac— Bull, de Set. Nat. Jan. 1830. 



The bones of this bear were found, with the remains of other carnivora, 

 in the caves of Fauzan, by Mr. Pitorre, and have belonged to a larger 

 animal than the Ursus spelaeus, in whose company Marcel de Serres 

 thinks that it occurs in the caverns of Sundavig in Prussia. The au- 

 thor has not been enabled to examine the bones of the head ; but the 

 lower maxillary and the teeth furnished marked differences from the 

 U. spelaius, and approximated to existing species. It has been found, 

 like the U. spelaeus, in deposits which also contained remnants of pottery. 



