166 Dr Boue on the Formation of Tertiary Rocks. 



to a certain extent, with portions of the tertiary soil in central 

 France, and with the gypseous and muriatiferous inferior parts 

 of the proteique system in the Mediterranean basin, this depo- 

 sit, as described by Brongniart, does not occur elsewhere than 

 at Paris. Lastly, the tritonian limestone is nearly peculiar to 

 Paris, and the important assertion of Brongniart, that " Dans 

 les colleries subapennines le terrain tritonien se confond avec le 

 terrain proteique," (p. 171.), seems to rest entirely on his de- 

 scription of the Superga Hill near Turin. Now, the public can 

 judge if that memoir puts the question at rest, and if a confir- 

 mation of it would not still be desirable. 



In the chapter on the upper tertiary soil, M. Brongniart, al- 

 ways too much occupied with the under part of his edifice, 

 seems, in our opinion, to have proposed various false classifica- 

 tions. Thus he arranges as parallel deposits the Rigi and Salz- 

 burg nagelfluh with that of the molasse, two deposits which we, 

 along with Studer and Keferstein, consider to be very different 

 from each other. The molasse contains beds of conglomerate, 

 but the old nagelfluh of the Rigi shews its age, by occurring in 

 rolled masses in the more ancient nagelfluh of the molasse. We 

 even believe that the Rigi nagelfluh is secondary, and that at 

 Salzburg there is an alluvial nagelfluh or conglomerate, a creta- 

 ceous or Rigi-like nagefluh, and a third belonging perhaps to the 

 molasse. 



If this is a point not easily determined, we do not see how 

 M. Brongniart can with propriety place the various hgnites of 

 the molasse only in the inferior part of his deposit, or of his 

 Proteique System (pages 158 and 188) ; and how he can recog- 

 nise in these masses his paleotherian or gypsum formation of 

 Paris (p. 146.) 



In Switzerland the lignites are found at very different heights 

 of the molasse deposit, as is proved by the different beds con- 

 tained in the Albis, and by the Jet of Kapfnach, when com- 

 pared with the bituminous wood of Usnach. In Bavaria, lig- 

 nite is found in three or four diff*erent positions ; and in Upper 

 Austria it is easily observed amongst the uppermost part of the 

 molasse. Lastly, in the northern part of the tertiary basin in 

 Bavaria, in Lower Austria, as at St Polten, &c., at Sarisap and 

 other parts in Hungary, in Stiria and Carinthia, lignite occurs 

 in the upper sand above the molasse. That of Sienna has near- 



