426 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vii. 



So that deposits forming in inland seas, excepting in tlie shal- 

 lower portions, we must expect to be destitute of fossils. This 

 is well illustrated by the Miocene strata of Malta, where certain 

 <3oarsish beds, representing shallow water conditions, are full of 

 fossils in a fine state of preservation ; whilst the verj^ fine build- 

 ing stone, corresponding closely with the finest calcareous deposit 

 of the Mediterranean, contains hardly any remains but such as 

 would fall in from above, e.g. the teeth of sharks. This may 

 explain the paucity of fossils in many strata, especially in the 

 Red Sandstones of inland seas. Much depends upon the depth 

 of the communication, supposing there to be one with the oceanic 

 circulation ; and the level of this may be often inferred from a 

 knowledge of the line of permanent temperature of such inland 

 sea. To the general paucity of animal life under such conditions 

 the Red Sea appears to be an exception, notwithstanding the 

 shallowness of the Straits of Babelmandel. This is probably due 

 to the absence of the sediment and oxidatins; matter of larore 

 rivers, and to the rocky nature of its shores, conditions which 

 insure a clear water : whilst a certain circulation, producing oxy- 

 genation, is kept up to supply the enormous evaporation, which, 

 if the Straits were closed, would desiccate the basin in three or 

 four hundred years. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



New Coal Fields in Russia. — The practical advantages 

 of Geology are well shown in the discovery of new coal-fields in 

 Russia, and in the extension of the known coal areas, far beyond 

 the limits previously assigned to them. In the district of Tula, 

 south of Moscow, is a coalfield covering 13,000 square miles, 

 with two seams of coal, one of three feet and the other of seven 

 feet in thickness. On the shores of the Sea of Azoff" is another 

 field of 11,000 square miles, containing good seams of both an- 

 thracite and bituminous coal. It is reported that sixty seams 

 have been discovered, forty-four of which are workable, having 

 a total thickness of 114 feat. Another small coal-field has been 

 discovered at the base of the Ural Mountains, but this is unim- 

 portant. It does not appear that any of these deposits belong 

 to the true old coal formation. They are, nevertheless, of con- 

 siderable value, and will greatly aid in the development of the 

 mineral wealth of the Russian Empire. — Athenctum. 



