TIIK MIOCKNK SKI: IKS 



Slu-lU an i-xivnliiigly aluiudant, but the number of species is not 

 large, ami the lamia is that of an ciiclo.-dl M-a. willi ninrli <-.,..|i-r 

 water than that of the older Mediterranean. The Cones, Olives, 

 .s, and Ancillas have all disappeared, and the commonest shells 

 are species of Cerithidce Potamides pictus, Cerithium rubiginosum, 

 Potamides disjunctus with the bivalves Tapes gregarius, Mactra 

 podolica, Ervilia podolica, and Cardium obsoletum The flora is 

 similar to that of CEninghen, and the Mammalian remains include 

 Mastodon angustidens, Anchitherium aurelianense, and Listriodon 

 splendens. 



6. Italy 



The Miocene Series of Italy is thicker than that of Austria and 

 must have been found in a deeper sea, the floor of which was 

 probably a subsiding area, for the beds attain a thickness of about 

 6500 feet. 



The Aquitanian is represented by the Schio Beds of the Vicentin 

 district, which are marls from 700 to 1000 feet thick containing 

 the Foraminifer Lepidocyclus with Scutella subrotunda and many 

 kinds of fish. In Liguria its equivalent probably exists in the 

 sandy marls at the base of the so-called Langhian Group. 



Burdigalian. The typical equivalent of this is found near 

 Langhe in Liguria, where sandy marls with Pectens (solarium and 

 burdigalensis) pass up into blue marls with Aturia Aturi, Solemya 

 Doderleini, and many Pteropod shells ; the whole having a thickness 

 of 2000 feet (Mayer). 



Helvetian. This stage is described as having a thickness of over 

 3000 feet in Liguria and as divisible into three groups, a lower 

 consisting of whitish marls full of Pteropoda (1300 feet), a middle 

 of sandy molasse with Bryozoa and Pecten ventilabrum (650 feet), 

 and an upper of nullipore beds with Pectens and Oysters (300 feet). 

 The Superga Beds of Turin belong to the same stage, and contain 

 the fauna of the Touraine faluns. 9 



Tortonian. Succeeding the above are about 650 feet of blue 

 marls with an abundant shell fauna, rich in species of Pleurotoma 

 and Conus with Valuta rarispina, Ancilla glandiformis, Apollon 

 marginatus, Trochus patulus, and corals of the genera Turbinolia 

 and Stephanophyllia. The assemblage indicates a sea that was 

 rather warmer than the Mediterranean of the present time. 



Sarmatian. In Liguria the Tortonian is overlain by about 60 

 feet of marls and sands containing a limited fauna like that of the 

 Austrian beds, Potamides pictus, Cerithium rubiginosum, Pecten 

 cristatus, etc. In other parts of Italy, on both sides of the 

 Apennines, in Calabria and in Sicily, there are extensive beds of 



