EUROPE. -91 



occupied by the Miocene rocks of Switzerland. Subsequent disturbances 

 reversed the drainage, and the Rhine flowed over an elevated plain of 

 Miocene beds, the relics of which still exist. The gorge has been 

 formed by gradual erosion ; and the Miocene rocks have been in great 

 part worn away, so as to leave the existing plain. W. T. 



Ramsay, Prof. A. C. On the Physical History of the Rhine. Proc. 



Roy. Inst. 

 This lecture deals with the same subject as the foregoing paper, of 

 which it is indeed a more popular version. 



Raulin, Victor, and — Jacquot. Statistique geologique et agrono- 

 mique du departement des Landes. [Geological and agricultural 

 statistics of the Landes.] Introduction and Part I. Mont-de- 

 Marsan. 8vo, 270 pp., geological map. 



This is not the geological part proper, which is to be published in 

 1875. The geological map is to a scale of 1 : 200,000. 



Reboux, — . Sur le diluvium rouge. [The Red Drift.] Compt. 

 Rend. 2 sess. Assoc. Frang. pp. 383, 384. 



Abstract. The author thinks that the residuum of the melting of the 

 ice and snow which covered the north of Europe is the probable origin 

 of the Red Drift which covers a large part of Prance and Belgium in a 

 nearly constant thickness. G. A. L. 



Redtenbacher, Dr. Anton. Ueber die Lagerungsverhaltnisse der 

 Gosaugebilde in der Gams bei Hieflau. [Cretaceous (Gosau) beds 

 in the Gams valley.] Jahrb. k.-k. geol. Reichs. Bd. xxiv. Heft 1, 

 pp. 1-6. 

 The succession of the Gosau beds in the Gams valley is not very clear, 

 but seems to be the following, beginning at the base : — Conglomerate, 

 Nerinaea-bed, Coal-bed (10 inches), containing freshwater shells ; Sand- 

 stones, ActaDonella-beds, Hippurite-limestone, Sandstones, Orbulite- 

 beds. E. B. T. 



Renevier, Prof. E. Tableau des terrains sedimentaires, avec leurs 



representauts en Suisse, et dans les regions classiques, leura 



synonymes et les principaux fossiles de chaque ctage. [Table of 



Sedimentary Rocks.] Bull. Soc. vaud. sci. nat. t. xiii. pp. 218-252. 



The author divides the stratified beds into three main divisions as 



usual, viz. Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and. Cienozoic. These he calls Eras, 



and remarks on the confusion which arises from the loose way in 



which the words era, period, epoch, system, formation, ttc. are used. 



Following the botanists who use the words class, order, family, &c., 



always in the same order, he proposes a hierarchy of geological terms, 



as follows: — (1) Era^ example, Mesozoic; (2) Period^ o. g. Jurassic; 



(3) Epoch or System, e.g. Bathonian ; (4) Age or Star/e (etago), e.g. 



Bradfordian. It is suggested that those or similar words should, by a 



general convention, have a definite value given them, and bo used 



always in the same order. 



In one table the classifications used by different authors in the prin- 



