138 Geological Society. 



Lamanonis of M. Ad. Brongniart, and the leaves of Laurus dulcis ? 

 Podocaipus macrophylla ? and Buxus Balearica ? — the terminal 

 pinna of a leguminous plant, referrible to Loteae or Phaseoleae of De 

 Candolle, the branch of a Thuya nearly related to T. articulata, 

 and what appears to be the fruit of some unknown plant, &c., 

 &c. In this upper system of gypsum the fossil insects occur, 

 exclusively, in a finely laminated bed of about 2 inches thick ; 

 and still lower are two other ranges of gypsum, the upper one of 

 which alone is worked ; and the marls associated therewith, con- 

 tain nearly as great a quantity of fossil fish as those of the upper 

 zone. Beneath these are beds of white and pink-coloured marl- 

 stone and marl, inclined at angles of from 25° to 30°, and distinguished 

 by Potamides Lamarckii, and a new species of Cyclas, named C. Aquae 

 Sextise, and these pass downwards into a red-sandstone (Molasse) 

 and a coarse conglomerate (Nagelfluh), the town of Aix being situated 

 at the base of the whole of the above series. 



In continuing the sectional line to the S.W., all the district be- 

 tween Aix and Fuveau is made up of ]3arallel ridges of fresh-water 

 rocks; the most northerlycontaining red marl and fibrous gypsum, with 

 Limnaese and Planorbes (P. rotundatus): the intermediate range is 

 of mere earthy limestone, containing Limnseae and Gyrogonites, with 

 micaceous sandstone and shale ; and lastly, the coal-field of Fuveau 

 is described, as composed of gray, blue, and black compact lime- 

 stone and shale, with stony bituminous coal of good quality ; the 

 united thickness of the different seams of which amounts to about 

 5 feet. The fossils characterizing the carboniferous strata are 2 new 

 species of Cyclas, named C. cuneata and C. concinna, a Melania, 

 named M. scalaris ; Planorbis cornu, and a large species of Unio. 

 Casts of Gyrogonites were observed even in the coal itself, and the 

 charcoal seemed in some instances to be made up of a plant resem- 

 bling Endogenites bacillare of Brongniart. 



The authors remark that these lower members of this great tertiary 

 deposit differ in character from any other fresh-water group examin- 

 ed by them in Central France, and have so much the aspect of the 

 most ancient secondary rocks, that the presence alone of fluviatile 

 and lacustrine shells, with Gyrogonites, compelled them to recognise 

 the comparatively recent date of the whole group. 



This notice was accompanied by observations on the fossil insects 

 mentioned in the preceding memoir, by John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. 

 These insects are all of European forms, and are most of them re- 

 ferrible to existing genera. The greater portions belong to the orders 

 Diptera and Hemiptera; the Coleoptera are next in number, there 

 are only a few Hymenoptera, and there is but one Lepidopterous in- 

 sect. " Asa larger collection," says Mr.Curtis, " might greatly change 

 the proportion of the different orders, no positive inference, as to 

 climate, should be drawn from the present assemblage ; but there 

 is nothing in the character of the insects to warrant the supposi- 

 tion of a higher temperature than that of the South of France." The 

 greater |)ortion of these remains were very probably brought together 

 from different localities by floods, mountaintorrcnis, or rivers ; yet 



there 



