T. Davidson — On the Geology of Nice. 309 



without books of reference no work can be satisfactorily achieved 

 now-a-days. 



Although the district snrroiinding Nice is replete with subjects of 

 considerable interest, I am sorry to say that there does not appear 

 to be any satisfactory map, or any complete work on the Geology 

 and Paleeontology of the Department. In several general Geo- 

 logical maps the district has been vaguely included ; thus we may 

 name those of Pareto, Sismonda, De la Beche, etc., but these are 

 mere sketches, and upon by far too small a scale for useful purposes ; 

 indeed, it would require much time, labour and expense to map out 

 correctly so disturbed and mountainous a region as the one under 

 notice. The attempt has been made by M. Geny, but his map has 

 not been hitherto published. 



Many geologists have in succession visited the neighbourhood of 

 Nice, and perhaps the best memoirs or sketches upon the subject are 

 those by Sir H. T. de la Beche and Dr. Buckland, published in the 

 Transactions of the Geological Society of London (vol. iii. 2nd ser., 

 1829) ; a paper, by Faujas St. Fond, in the tenth volume of the 

 Annales du Musee ; one by Allen in the seventh volume of the 

 Tranactions of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh ; and another by Sir 

 E. Murchison ; a memoir " On the limits of the Cretaceous formation 

 in the Maritime Alps " by Perez (Atti della ottava reunione degli 

 Scienziati Italiani, 1847) ; Bellardi's excellent monograph of the 

 Lower Tertiary Fauna of Pallarea, near Nice ; and several articles 

 contributed by M. Geny to the volume of the Congres Scientifique 

 of France at Nice in 1867, are, I believe, among the principal frag- 

 mentary records which may be consulted on the geology of the 

 district. 



The chief object of my own examination of a small portion 

 thereof was to acquire a superficial knowledge of its general geo- 

 logy, and to study in particular those Tertiary, Cretaceous, and 

 Jurassic formations containing Brachiopoda ; but prior to detailing 

 my personal observations, I will lay before the reader an unpublished 

 section given to me by M. Geny during my residence in Nice, in 

 which will be found in a condensed shape the results of the many 

 years he has devoted to the exploration of the department in which 

 the town of Nice is situated. 



General Summary of a Geological Section of the Department of the 



Maritime Alps, by M. Ph. Geny. 1869. 



In the department of the Maritime Alps there are representatives 

 of the larger number of known geological formations. We distin- 

 guish first of all several systems of upheaved mountains, accom- 

 panied by subsidences, depressions, and enormous faults, then the 

 central points of our Alps (forming the granitic nucleus of our 

 Alpine system) attains an altitude of 3118 metres above the level of 

 the sea. The culminating point, termed Mount Gelas, has its principal 

 axis from north-west to north-east, from which converge a multitude 

 of minor ranges, of which the longest stretches to the south and to- 

 wards the sea (those of the north constituting a portion of Piedmont), 



