1864. | JunKins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 417 
in which it occurs, its range being so extended. Cerithiwm Lamarekii, 
on the contrary, is a well-known shell, which occurs abundantly in 
Lower Miocene strata, and is found also in the Eocene “ Sables de 
Beauchamp,” so that its occurrence would appear to stamp the age of 
the deposit as Lower Miocene or older, and to the period named I 
am inclined to refer it, though it is not impossible that a larger col- 
lection of shells may prove it to be somewhat newer. But the great 
difference between these shells and recent species renders it impos- 
sible that the deposit should be Pliocene, as has been supposed. 
It by no means follows, however, that there is no more recent 
formation in Crete ; on the contrary, M. Raulin, in a paper on the 
geology of Crete,* speaks of a lacustrine limestone above a marine 
formation; and a late lacustrine deposit occurring in the plains in 
the interior of the island furnished him with the lower jaw of a 
Hippopotamus. 
The so-called lacustrine formation of Rhodes contains species of 
Neritina and Melanopsis, the latter being M. Bouei ; with it occurs 
Cerithium plicatum, an associate of C. Lamarckii in the Paris and 
Mayence basins. Although the occurrence of Cerithiwm plicatum is, 
of itself, not antagonistic to the Upper Miocene age of the strata, yet, 
when associated with C. Lamarckii, it seems reasonable to consider 
them, for the present at least, as Lower Miocene, especially as the 
only true Upper Miocene species occurring with them is Melanopsis 
Bouei, and the only recent species is M. buccinoidea, which occurs in 
great numbers in‘Lower Miocene strata also. The only obstacle to 
the Upper Miocene age of the beds is, in fact, the occurrence of 
Cerithium Lamarckii ; and, although there is no reason why that 
species may not occur higher in the series, yet as it has not been 
found in that position hitherto, and as the evidence is at present 
strongly in favour of its Lower Miocene age in Crete, we must consider 
it for the present limited to Hocene and Lower Miocene strata. 
Malformed Shells.—The fresh-water beds of Rhodes are admitted 
to be of the same age as those of Cos and Xanthus, some species of 
shells being common to, the three localities, and the remarkable 
Neritina abnormis (Figs. Ta to Te of the Plate) from Crete being very 
near the Neritina from Cos figured by Professor Forbes,t if not 
identical with it. The specimens from both islands exhibit the same 
kind of malformation, showing that the faune of both series of strata 
lived under similar conditions, which appear to have been unfavour- 
able to some of the species 
On examination, it will be seen that the older the specimen, the 
more distorted does it appear, and the larger are the keels on the 
whorls, and that, at last, tubercles and even spines spring from them. 
Soin Figs. 8a to 8c, representing a Unio, the same kind of result is 
seen in the great thickness of the shell, and the small size of one of 
the specimens, and in Figs. 4a to 4c in the comparative coarseness of 
the ribs of Melanopsis Bouei. The Neritina represented in Figs. 6a 
* Bull. Soe. Géol. de France. Deuxiéme Série, vol. xiii. 
} ‘Travels in Lycia,’ vol. ii. p. 203. 
