Scientijic Intelligence. — Geology. 441 



period, many of the shells preserving their brilliant colours. 

 The vicinity of Coquimbo is composed of a transition granite, 

 with masses of porphyry in veins, and both contain the rich 

 metallic veins of that celebrated metalliferous district. The 

 Andes in this neighbourhood are very high, and if the position 

 of the peak seen from the port is accurately laid down on the 

 maps (and which I had no time to verify), its elevation must 

 exceed 20,000 feet, according to some zenith distances I took 

 of it. The country around the town from which I now write 

 is an arid sandy desert, without a trace of vegetation. It is 

 covered with loose sand of the new red sandstone series, through 

 which the quartziferous trachyte rises near Tacna, and con- 

 tinues to form a band at the base of the Andes." 



10. Fhilipi on the Subfossil Shells of PonzzuoU and Ischia. 

 — Professor Philipi of Berlin, has lately published a memoir 

 on the subfossil marine shells of Pouzzuoli and of the island 

 of Ischia. At Pouzzuoli the shells were collected in an exca- 

 vation lately made for the foundation of a new hospital, and 

 all belonged to species living at present in the Mediterranean, 

 with the exception of the Diplodonta dilatata, which is found 

 in the Red Sea, but which has probably been met with in the 

 Mediterranean, and been cited by Payrandeau under the name 

 of Lucina lactea. M. Philipi deduces from the occurrence of 

 these shells at Pouzzuoli, a proof that the land has been sub- 

 merged since the commencement of the present epoch ; and 

 indeed this phenomenon seems connected with that of the 

 temple of Serapis. In the Island of Ischia the author collect- 

 ed ninety-two species of shells, of which three, viz. Terebratula 

 bipartita, Hyalcea dcpressa, and Tornatella elongata, have not 

 yet been found in the Mediterranean. The bed which con- 

 tains the shells is a clay employed by the potters, and is the 

 product of the decomposition of volcanic ashes ; it frequently 

 includes half decomposed fragments of pumice. M. Philipi 

 draws the conclusion that the soidtvement of the Island of Ischia 

 has been much posterior, not only to the formation of the sub- 

 apennine hills, but also to thatof the tertiary formation of Sicily, 

 in which a fifth at least of the fossils belong to extinct species. 

 According to the author this soulevement must have been con- 

 temporaneous with the diluvian period. 



