386 French Nuii(7nal Ihsfktvie. 



Robert Bald, civil engineer, ^nd manager of Mrv ^ri^feii^ 

 of Mar's extensive coal-works. The depth o J; the section 

 is 704 feet; the alternating strata arc 14.1 in nimiber ; and 

 the total; amount of the difl«reiit bed,s of coal is 59 feet 

 4 inches^ — Captain Laskey likewise presented to the so- 

 ciety a series of the remains of a curiowo fossil Encrinu% 

 found iii.slatercUy near D,«nbar. 



FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 



[Continued from p. 3^17.], 



GEOLOGY. 



The observations tVgm which geology can. derive the 

 most important advantages, are certainly those which are 

 directed to the subjects of fossil animals, but more particu- 

 larly those which lived upon dry land. M. Cuvier has con^ 

 tinned ti^e investigation of this important subject. He has 

 brought to a termination, in conjunction with M. Brong- 

 fiiart, the mineralogical geography of the environs of Pa^- 

 ris, a slight sketch of which was- given in the account o¥- 

 the labours of the Class for the year 1 808 *. He afterwards* 

 directed his attention to the osseous heaps ifireches) on the- 

 chores of the Mediterranean. Rocks similar to those which 

 are to be seen at Gibraltar, near Terruel in Arragon, at 

 Gette, at Antibes, at Nice, in Corsica, inDalmatia, and in- 

 the isle of Cerigo, have been found in the fissures of the 

 compact limestone which constitutes the principal soil o^ 

 these various places, and they are all composed of the same- 

 elements : it is a red cement, like brick, which conneats in 

 a confused manner numerous fragments of bones and of' 

 limestone in which these heaps^ are contained. All the 

 bones found in these rocks belong to herbivorous animals, 

 most of whidh are known still to exist oh the adjoining 

 soil; thev are mixed with fresh- water shell s^.. This inclines 

 us to think that these heaps are posterior to the last conti- 

 nuance of the sea on our continents, but very ancient ne- 

 vertheless ; since nothing proves that similar heaps have- 

 been recently formed, and some of them, such as those \\v 

 Corsica, contain even unknown animals. 



Alluvial earths also contain bones of herbivorous ani- 

 mals: they bftve been discovered in the peat-mosses of the 

 valley of tiic Somme, with slags* horns and heads of oxen, 

 and in the envi"rons of Azoph, near the Black Sea. These 

 bones have l)clonoed to a species of beaver : the former re- 

 semble tho>e of the common beaver; the others, which 



.!* See, page 86 of the present volume of i\\t Phil. Mag^. 



