[; and Subsidence of the Land in Switzerland. 359 



terraces of the river beds, except where they have fallen 

 dov^^n from the undermining of the banks. 



The succession of the movements above indicated is as 

 follows: — 



1. Elevation of the Alpine district before the Molasse-period. 



2. Subsidence of the district bordering the Alps during 

 the Molasse-period. 



3. Elevation of the Molasse and the upcast of its strata. 



4. Deposition of the old alluvia in the Alpine and Molasse 

 valleys. 



5. Deposition of the Erratics. 



6. Continental elevation of the Alpine district. 



The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society^ vol. vii. 

 No. 27, p. 103, and Leonard and Br onn^s JahrLfur Mw.,1850, 

 p. 221. 



Microscopic Examination of Soundings, made by the U, S. 

 Coast Survey off the Atlantic Coast of the United States. 

 By Professor J. W. Bailey. 



After special details with reference to the character of the 

 material in each case of sounding. Professor Bailey gives the 

 following very important statements as the general results 

 of the examinations : — 



1^^. The most remarkable fact determined by the examina- 

 tion of the above-mentioned soundings is, that in all the deep 

 soundings, from that of fifty-one fathoms S.E. of Montauk 

 Point, to that of ninety fathoms S.E. of Cape Henlopen, there 

 is a truly wonderful development of minute organic forms, 

 consisting chiefly of Polythalamia, which occur in an abund- 

 ance rivalling those vast accumulations of analogous forms 

 constituting the marl under the city of Charleston, S.Carolina. 



2d. While there is a general resemblance between the 

 species found in all the deep soundings above-mentioned, the 

 same species of Polythalamia occurring with few exceptions 

 at each locality, yet each place has its predominant species ; 

 thus, in the most southerly soundings (H, No. 1, 90 fathoms), 

 there occur a much greater number of Globigereina than in 



2a2 



