1880.] LAND-SHELLS OF MENTON. 97 



due east ; we found the shells here in the deep cutting of the 

 high road under the larger boulders, about the level of the road, 

 buried lieneath approximately 20 feet of the Conglomerate ; the 

 mollusks were indubitably living here in situ. 



B. Underneath the railway viaduct, almost exactly in front of the 

 first cavern, something like 100 metres west of the tunnel, and 

 about the same distance east of the Gorge St. Louis (frontier), about 

 20 metres above the sea. After passing through the arches, one 

 finds before one a small amphitheatre, in which these shells can be 

 found, here and there, in astonishing profusion. As a rule the 

 Conglomerate here, under which they are buried, is of no great 

 thickness, doubtless owing to the very steep incline of the slope ; 

 under one enormous rock, in especial, we collected a really wonderful 

 number both of species and specimens. Our researches were so 

 extensive here that we ended by dislodging the boulder itself, my 

 friend having had a narrow escape of being crushed on the occasion. 



The aspect is due south, and completely protected both from the 

 north and east by the lofty surrounding cliffs in which the caves 

 have been excavated at some remote period ; the humidity of this 

 spot must probably have been very considerable, owing to the small 

 streams that doubtless trickled from the caves immediately above. 

 The mollusks lived here also in situ. 



C. Deposit, with a southern aspect, a little more to the east than 

 the preceding and somewhat lower down, a few feet only above the 

 sea, in a cutting of the new road which is being made along the sea- 

 shore for working a stone-quarry, on the sea front of the tunnel. 

 The Conglomerate, above the shells, was here about 20 to 30 feet 

 in thickness. I am not sure that the mollusks lived on this spot. 



D. Deposit, with a northern aspect, in a cutting of the railroad, 

 about a quarter of an hour's walk to the east from the precediniz;, 

 about a hundred yards east of the tunnel, quite cut off from all the 

 previous localities by the peak, which here projects prominently into 

 the sea, and which is surmounted by the tower and estate of Grimaldi, 

 belonging to Dr. Bennet. This spot must have been very damp 

 and cold, almost entirely shut in to the west and south by the peak, 

 which easily explains the somewhat different "facies" of the extinct 

 shells. Many of the species, abundant in the preceding deposits, are 

 here very scarce, or altogether absent, whilst others, especially species 

 of Hyalina, Campylcea, &c., are to be found in extraordinary pro- 

 fusion, evidently in situ as they lived, filling the crevasses of the 

 larger blocks of stone, at a depth below the surface of about 

 15 feet. One or two of the forms also, as Pomatias and Clausilia, 

 though closely allied, appear to be specifically distinct. We also 

 discovered a few specimens of Hyalina, Pomatias, Helix niciensis, 

 &c. a little more to the west, quite close to the perpendicular sides 

 of the peak itself. 



E. Bed, or deposit, near the sea and adjoining the stone-quarry, 

 of doubtful age. The mollusks were here evidently not living in situ ; 

 the shells are very difficult to extract from the liard compact mass 

 in which they are imbedded. Most of them belong to the same fauna 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1880, No. VII. 7 



