582 STRATIGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY 



reptiles. Heer described nearly 500 species of plants, and the 

 assemblage indicates a cooler climate than that of earlier Miocene 

 time. It contains a mixture of generic forms which are now 

 characteristic of widely separated countries (see ante, p. 574). 

 Among insects wood -eating beetles are particularly abundant. 

 With these are remains of fish and freshwater tortoises, a huge 

 salamander (Andrias Scheuchzeri), which was taken for a human 

 skeleton when first discovered ; also bones of Dinotherium 

 yiganteum, Mastodon tapiroides, Palceomeryx eminens (a ruminant), 

 Galecynus (Eningensis (a fox having affinities with the civet cat), 

 hares, beavers, and many small carnivores. 



5. Austria 



The Miocene has a w r ide extension in Austria, and consists there 

 mainly of marine deposits which occupy the Vienna basin and 

 extend thence eastward to Moravia and the Carpathian Mountains. 

 Their thickness varies in different places, but the average may be 

 estimated at about 1500 feet. 



Aquitanian. The lowest beds are the sands and clays of Horn 

 and Molt containing Potamides plicatus, Pectunculus Fichteli, and 

 Mytilus Haidingeri, which seem to represent only the higher 

 Aquitanian. 



Burdigalian. To this stage may be referred the sands of 

 Gaudernsdorf containing Turritella turris, T. cathedralis, and other 

 fossils of the Leognan fauna, also the molasse of Eggensburg con- 

 sisting of sand and Bryozoan limestone. Of about the same age are 

 the gypsiferous marls known as the " Schlier " containing Pecten 

 denudatus, Cryptodon angulatus, Solemya Doderleini, and Aturia 

 Aturi. 



Helvetian. The Grund Beds are sandy marls which contain a 

 fauna like that of the faunas of Touraine, and the Baden Tegel 

 are marly clays of about the same age but containing rather a 

 different assemblage of shells, species of Pleurotoma being more 

 abundant, with Cardita Jouanneti, Ancilla glandiformis, Cassidea 

 saburon, Pecten cristatus, and Corbula gibba. 



Tortonian. This seems to be represented by the Leithakalk, a 

 limestone consisting largely of Lithothamnion and Foraminifera 

 (Amphistegina and Triloculina), bitt in some beds Bryozoa are very 

 abundant and in others Corals with many bivalve shells (Pecten 

 latissimus, etc.), large Echinoderms (Clypeaster altecostatus, C. 

 marginatus), and teeth of sharks (Carcharodon, etc.). 



Sarmatian. This consists mainly of sand and soft sandstone, 

 but includes some beds of sandy limestone and marl, the whole 

 being about 800 feet thick, but reaching 1200 feet in Galicia. 



