294 Bibliographical Notices. 



their currents and bottoms (on which of course the nature of 

 marine deposits depend), must have been essentially different. 



This discover}' also proves tlie symmetry of the opposite 

 edges of the Moscoxo basin ,• since in advancing from the 

 governments of Tula and Kaluga on the south, we see the 

 same ascending order as that which we before described 

 in the Waldai Hills on the north. In both tracts the De- 

 vonian or old red rocks, with Holoptychhis nobilissimm, and 

 many fishes and shells of that system well known in the Bri- 

 tish Isles*, pass under the lowest strata of the carboniferous 

 fera, and serve as a base line to those thin beds of poor coal 

 associated with Unio sulcatiis and Productus gigas {Jiemispheri- 

 cus, Sow.), which are at present the subject of new researches 

 on the part of the Russian Government. 



The enormous space we traversed and examined, in all 

 between 13 and 14 thousand miles, might well astonish you, if 

 I did not assure you, that the arrangements for this journey, 

 undertaken under the auspices of the Minister of Finance, 

 Count de Cancrine, were admirably prepared by General 

 Tcheffkine, whose clear directions, united to that spirit of hos- 

 pitality which characterizes all Russians, and above all the in- 

 habitants of the Ural and Siberia, rendered every enterprise 

 feasible, and enabled us to overcome every obstacle. 



I shall communicate to you at a later date, and before our 

 large memoir is prepared, the general table of the order of su- 

 perposition of all the formations of Russia, with sections f. 



Accept, dear Sir, the assurance of the affection and esteem 

 of your devoted servant, 



RoDEnrcK Impey Murchison, 

 President of llie Geol. Society of 

 London. 



To His Excellency M. Fischer de Waldheim. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Catalogue of British Plants (Part 1st containing the Flowering Plants 

 and Ferns). By J. H. Balfour, M.D., Reg. Prof, of Botany, Glas- 

 gow ; C. C. Babington, Esq., M.A., F.L.S. ; and W. H. Camp- 

 bell, Esq., Sec. Bot. Soc. Second Ed. Printed for the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh, 1841. 



The names of the distinguished botanists to whom the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh have delegated the task of prej)aration, are an 

 abundant guarantee for the patient care, skill, and critical accuracy 



* See Silurian System, p. 599. 



t These documents, which were laid before His Imperial Majesty in 

 MSS., are now in the hands of the engraver. 



