ss 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 55 
On the important additions recently made to the Fossil Contents of the Ter= 
trary and Alluvial Basin of the Middle Rhine. By Ropuricx Impey Mur- 
cntson, Gen. Sec. B.A. and Pres. of the Royal Geogr. Soc. 
After a sketch of the geographical limits and geological relations of the tertiary 
deposits which occupy the valley of the rivers Rhine and Mayn around the towns of 
Mayence, Frankfort and Darmstadt, and a brief allusion to the descriptions of this 
tract by M. Klipstein and Mr. Lyell, Mr. Murchison gave an account of the recent 
discoveries of three German naturalists, who have been making such additions to 
the hitherto known fauna of this basin, as involve considerable modification of for- 
mer opinions respecting the period of its accumulation. In speaking of M. H. von 
Meyer’s unabated exertions, it was announced that he had prepared drawings of 
various fossil vertebrata in Germany, sufficient to fill upwards of 300 folio plates, 
with long and elaborate descriptions of the same. To obtain some acquaintance 
with these important results, Mr. Murchison begged his countrymen to consult the 
valuable periodical of Leonhardt and Bronn, too little read, he regretted to say, in 
the British Isles. Of the animals in the tertiary basin under consideration, M. H. 
von Meyer has catalogued and prepared for publication—mammifera 68 species, 
including a new genus, Acanthodon; reptiles 30; birds 13; frogs 8. These crea- 
tures are nearly all of undescribed forms, generally of small and sometimes of very 
minute dimensions—one of the birds being less than the most diminutive existing 
humming-bird, and therefore the very antipode of the great Dinornis of Owen*. 
M. Kaup of Darmstadt, so well known as the discoverer of the Deinotherium and 
numerous other vertebrata in the deposits around that city, has made some very 
curious additions to his list, most of which are appearing, as fast as his limited 
means will permit, in the large and splendid work which he publishes in folio fasci- 
culi—a work which Mr. Murchison lamented had not met with sufficient encourage- 
ment to repay the devotion and outlay of the author. 
Among the new animals, the Chalicotherium Goldfussit was instanced as a genus 
approaching on the one hand to Anoplotherium, and on the other to Lophiodon; as 
also the Hippotherium or extinct fossil Horse, &c. &c. 
In examining the remains of Rhinoceros, Stag and Tapir, sometimes very perfect, 
which occur in this deposit, M. Kaup has convinced himself, that they have a close 
affinity to the types of the Indian and Sumatran Archipelago, and are entirely distinct 
from all known European mammalia. M. Kaup has also collected a very perfect 
series of teeth of Mastodons, at different ages of growth, which completely support 
and confirm the views of Prof. Owen, in proving that the Tetracaulodon, Missourium, 
&c. of American authors are true Mastodons. 
Of the Invertebrata of this tertiary basin, M. Alexander Braun of Karlsruhe gave 
an account at a late meeting of the German naturalists held at Mayence ; but as his 
memoir has not yet been published, and the author communicated some results to Mr. 
Murchison, the latter deems it important that geologists should be made generally 
acquainted with them through the volumes of the British Association. They consist of 

Marine contents. Terrestrial and Freshwater. 
Corals... cccaieded $95. RELTCSEVIAL SHEIS! 04's cnspinnndeneeyannce . 75 
Radiaria.... 18 1 Foraminifers ...... 12 | Freshwater shells ..........sc0eseeesseeee 28 
Echinoderms ..... hie —_—~ 
Brachiopods ....., 1 Totals dhinsces -103 
Mollusca ...303 | Aceh vaatee 87 | of which 10 species only are identical 
Gasteropods ...... 215 | with living forms. 
Crustaceans........ 9 
Articulata... 16 ' Insects... ....sesseeee 2 General total ........ 450 
Vermes or Serpula 5 
"LOtal,s-cacnce 337 
Among the numerous shells (and M. A. Braun has in many cases compared hun- 
dreds of individuals of each species) there are some which approach closely in form 
* See M. von Meyer’s letters to Professor Bronn of Heidelberg. 
