

M. A. Brongniart on the LigniteFormation of Mount Meissner. 1 07 



to those existing in the neighbouring seas, even comprising 

 the Mediterranean. 



It is in the more recent fossil deposits, but distinct from 

 the products of our present seas, that we find a much greater 

 analogy as to species. It will be seen that even in these more 

 ancient times horizontal distances exerted an appreciable in- 

 fluence. Taking the Gironde basin as a centre, it will be 

 observed that the shells of similar basins the more resemble 

 each other the shorter the distance of these basins. Thus out 

 of three hundred and thirty species collected in the environs 

 of Bordeaux, ninety are found in similar rocks of Italy ; sixty- 

 six in those of the environs of Paris ; eighteen in those of Vi- 

 enna, and only twenty-four in the tertiary basins of England. 



Table of the distribution of the fossil shells of the environs of 



Bordeaux. 

 ^ ^ f Tin the Adriatic, the Medi-"J 



=^ A ,T . -J terranean, the Ocean, and V 45 



Anallivingspecies^ the English Channel . . .j 



[^ In other seas 21 



r In the basin of Italy .... 91 



. , - ., . J In the Paris basin 66 



Anal, fossil species<j j^ England 24 



^ In the environs of Vienna . 1 8 

 j^ " j^ Species peculiar to the Bordeaux basin .... 110 

 It should be observed, that some species have at the same 

 time analogous living and fossil species, which explains the 

 circumstance of the total number of species, classed in this 

 table, being greater than the real number mentioned as found 

 at Bordeaux. 



7. On the Lignite or Plastic Clay Formation of Mount Meissner i 

 by M. Alex. Brongniart*. 



The fundamental rock, on which the lignite formation rests, 

 is a compact smoke-gray limestone, containing Ammonites 

 nodosus Schlot., and which I consider as of the same formation 

 as the Alpine limestonef, consequently a much older rock than 

 chalk. 



This fossil-combustible deposit is very thick, and is com- 

 posed: 1. of the combustible itself, presenting many minera- 



• This account of the carbonaceous deposit of this long celebrated 

 Hessian hill is extracted from that part of the description Gcolof-ique des 

 Environs de Paris, by MM. ('uvier and Brongniart, which contains :in ac- 

 count, by the latter, of the plastic clays known beyond the limits oi the 

 Paris basin. — Trans. 



f The equivalent of our magnesian limestone. — Trans. 



P 2 logical 



