208 Geological Societi/. 



vided from each otlier by tliin layers of brown marl, and white slaty 

 limestone, in which leaves of dicotyledonous plants, fishes, &c. are 

 not unfrequent. The upper quarries offer a section nearly thirty 

 feet deep, and are worked for the extraction of building-stone and 

 limestone. A detail of the beds is given, which shows a passage 

 downwards, from brown clay into cream-coloured, indurated marl, 

 and afterwards into a fissile, fetid, marlstone, containing flattened 

 shells of Planorbes, small Lymnei, &c.,and Cypris : to these succeed 

 light-coloured, fetid, calcareous, building-stone ; beneath which is 

 a finely laminated bed containing insects, Cypris, shells of Anodon, 

 and many plants : then follow two thin bands of fetid limestone, in 

 the uppermost of which a large tortoise has been found, and in the 

 lower was discovered the carnivorous quadruped. Both these 

 animals were in positions which show that their remains had not 

 been disturbed since they first sank down into the silt of the lake. 

 The succeeding strata consist of slaty marl, several bands of slaty 

 marlstone, limestone, and strong-bedded building-stone, with a 

 repetition of finely laminated layers of marl, including plants and 

 fishes, after which the incoherent sandstone of the molasse is 

 reached,"and forms the base of the quarry. 



A description of the fossil quadruped is then given by Mr, Man- 

 tell, who has ascertained its specific character, by first clearing away 

 the surrounding matrix, and afterwards comparing the skeleton with 

 those of many varieties of the fox. He has no hesitation in referring 

 the animal to the genus Vulpes ; but a difficulty occurs in positively 

 assigning to it a specific character, owing to the compressed state 

 of the head, which prevents the true form of the frontal bone and 

 post-orbital apophyses from being determined. After noticing this 

 and some slight variations of structure, which he is of opinion are 

 insufficient to establish a variety, much less a species, he concludes 

 that the animal bears a closer analogy to Vulpes communis than to 

 any other species with which it has been compared. 



The author proceeds to remark upon the existence beneath the 

 lumbar vertebrae of the fossil faeces of the quadruped, which on 

 being analysed by Dr. Prout, afforded the same proportion of phos- 

 phate of lime as the Coprolites described by Dr. Buckland. In this 

 case, however, the whole of the adjoining rock is impregnated, 

 though in a less degree, with phosphate of lime ; thus affording a 

 strong presumption that the bituminization of the marlstone is due 

 to the decomposition of the vast quantity of animal matter contained 

 in it. All the other quadrupeds occurring at Qiningen have proved 

 to be Rodentia: amongst which, the Anoema CEningensis has lately 

 been figured by Mr. Konig ; and a Lagomys was this year found by 

 Professor Sedgwick and the author in a second visit to the quarries. 



A synopsis follows of many of the birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, 

 &c. In the insects there is a strong accordance in generic characters 

 to those now inhabiting the district. Mr. Curtis recognizes Formi- 

 cidee and Hymenopterae. Mr. Samouelle has noticed larva of Libel- 

 lulae similar to our common English species Libellula depressa, also 

 the genera Anthrax, Cimex,Coccinella,Cerambyx, Blatta,and Nepa, 



some 



