214 Sir R. I. Murchison on the Geological Structure 



the Carpathians to Cutch at the mouth of the Indus, a space of not 

 less than 25° lat. has been occupied by sea-basins in which creatures 

 of this sera lived. In reference to Ej^ypt, he cites copious collections 

 of shells and nummulites, chiefly those at the Royal Museum of 

 Turin, examined by M. Bellardi and himself ; and in regard to Hin- 

 dostan (after reverting to the Cutch fossils collected by Grant and 

 described by Sowerby), he pointedly dwelt on the rich and instructive 

 supplies of them recently sent home to him by Capt. Vicary from 

 Scinde and Sabathoo, and examined by Mr. Morris, which not only 

 demonstrate the existence of this same group in the Hala range, ex- 

 tending northwards towards Caubul, but also along the southern 

 edge of the Himalaya mountains. 



The inference then is, that it is necessary to separate the vast 

 nummulitic formation, which the author believes to be eocene, from 

 the cretaceous system with which it has hitherto been merged, and 

 hence that a great change must be made in geological maps and 

 in the classification of the rocks of this age in South Europe and 

 other parts of the world. The union of the nummulitic and creta- 

 ceous groups in one system has been almost exclusively based upon 

 the prevailing phsenomenon of both having undergone the same move- 

 ments, and having been often elevated into the same peaks and 

 ridges. But such agreement in physical outline cannot be admitted 

 as invalidating the clear testimony borne by organic remains, and 

 from the study of which Brongniart, Deshayes, Agassiz, D'Orbigny 

 and Bronn have all placed the nummulitic group as lower tertiary. 

 Patient geological researches therefore at length prove that, when 

 clear from obscurities and unbroken, the order of superposition is in 

 harmony with the distribution of animal remains. 



[P.S. In the course of the memoir, of which it is difficult to ex- 

 plain even the chief points in an abstract, the author particularly 

 cites Professors Studer and Brunner, jun., and M. Arnold Escher 

 von der Linth, as having rendered him very great services in his 

 examination of the Swiss Alps. In reference to Savoy, he mentions 

 the Canon Chamousset and M. Pillet; and respecting the East- 

 ern Alps, he points out the assistance he received, first from the co- 

 operation of his old associate M. de Verneuil in his re-examination of 

 Styria, Gosau, &c., and afterwards from M. Leopold de Buch, to 

 travel with whom through any part of that chain is to ensure good 

 results. It was when with M. de Buch and M. de Verneuil that he 

 explored the Triassic deposits of the South Tyrol. In attending the 

 Venetian Meeting of the Italian •' Scienziati" in the autumn of 1847, 

 the author further necessarily acquired much additional knowledge 

 there from intercourse with the geologists who have worked out the 

 details of that region, including Pasini, Catullo and De Zigno, and 

 he was then led to institute comparisons between some of the re- 

 sults of the Marquis Pareto in the western shores of the Southern 

 Alps, and with those of the Austrian geologists, V. Hauer, Morlot, 

 &c. in theEast.as well as from that excellent palaeontologist M.Ewald 

 of Berlin, But as at that time Sir Roderick had not examined either 

 the Swiss and Savoy Alps, the Monferrato, Apennines or Southern 



