THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. I. 



Ho. I.— JANUAEY, 1894. 



o:n,x(3rXi<rj^Xj j^i^tigles. 



I. — Coral in the " Dolomites " of South Tyrol. 



By Miss Maria M. Ogilvie, D.Sc. (Lond.). 



(Part I.) 



I. General Character of the Scenery — The Interpretation of the 



Mid-Triassic Succession given by the "Coral Reef Theory." 



AT the meeting of the British Association in Nottingham, in 

 August of last year, a joint discussion on "Coral Keefs " 

 was held by the sections of Zoology and Geology.^ Prof. SoUas, 

 in opening the discussion, referred to the "Dolomites of South 

 Tyrol " as a country affording brilliant examples of Fossil Coral 

 Eeefs. He demonstrated this by sections taken from the well- 

 known work of Mojsisovics, and showed several photographs of 

 some of the more imposing dolomite mountains — Schlern, Langkofl, 

 and Sella — which had been explained as reefs of Triassic age. In 

 the course of the discussion. Dr. Hickson said he believed there 

 were no corals in these so-called fossil reefs. Dr. Eotbpletz cor- 

 rected this statement, saying briefly that there were corals in the 

 dolomite and limestone rock, along with other groups of marine 

 animals, but that many of the sections shown by Prof. Sollas were 

 incorrect. Prof. Bonney emphasized the ample evidence of Coral 

 life in many parts of the district which he had visited. 



I may be pardoned for recapitulating the part of the discussion 

 bearing on South Tyrol, as I wish to state here the conclusions which 

 I have formed with ^regard to Coral Reefs from my geological work 

 in that neighbourhood. So far as South Tyrol gives countenance 

 to one theory of the growth of Coral Eeefs or the other, it supports 

 in the main Murray's theory and not Darwin's. It displays striking 

 analogies with the observations of recent reefs made by Agassiz in 

 the West Indian and Caribbean Seas, by Dr. Guppy in the Solomon 

 Islands, by Dr. Murray on the Barrier Eeef of Tahiti and the Great 

 Ghagos Bank, by Prof. Semper in the Pelew Islands, by Dr. Eein, 

 Dr. Sydney Hickson, and others. Some of the special points of 

 correspondence may be indicated at once. Volcanic eminences 

 formed submarine platforms in the Triassic ocean of South Tyrol, 

 on which Corals built in Wengen and Cassian time. One special 



1 An account of the discussion is given in "Nature," October 12th, 1893. 



DECADE IV. — VOL. I. — >0. 1. 1 



