324 Notices of Memoirs — Tertiary Geology of Calabria. 



from the Langhian upwards, and the way the last formations are 

 onl}' found in patches show what great denudation has taken place. 

 The Pliocene is found at a much greater elevation than any of the 

 other I'ertiary series, reaching in the Zanclean to 1200 metres above 

 the sea, and as the conditions of deposition were quite different here 

 from those which obtained in north Italy, the series in one part 

 of the peninsula forms a complement to those in the other. It 

 commences with the Zanclean, and this at the base is formed of 

 a conglomerate ; then follow fossiliferous beds with 650 species of 

 various classes, among which 52 Kadiolaria and 165 Bryozoa. A 

 considerable amount of denudation also took place before the Astian, 

 a formation which was frequently deposited in the depression caused 

 by this denudation, and many mistakes have thus arisen, as the 

 Astian found lower down has been taken for Zanclean, and thought 

 to underlie it. The number of fossils in the Zanclean mounts up to 

 1175, of which 463 are Gasteropoda, 77 Bryozoa, and 190 Rhizopoda, 

 and of the whole number 652 are now known living ; but Professor 

 Sequenza points out how such comparative lists are liable to variation, 

 for in 1870 he published a note on the Astian fossil mollusca of 

 southern Italy, found in the north Atlantic, and not in the Mediter- 

 ranean, but since then seven of these have been discovered in the 

 Mediterranean ; he, however, now mentions 23 more species from 

 the Calabrese known living, but not in the Mediterranean. The 

 Sicilian is also found at a very considerable height above the sea, 

 and the Saharian at an elevation of 832 metres. Of the 702 species 

 of fossils from this latter formation a few are tropical, but careful 

 examination has reduced the number of cases which were at first 

 thought to be identical with forms from warmer climates, and some 

 occur in the recent Quaternary which had been found in the Tortonian, 

 and then were not found in the Pliocene or Lower Quaternary, and 

 it is considered that they emigrated to the south when the tempera- 

 ture became colder, and subsequently returned upon it becoming 

 warmer; on the other hand, in the Astian, Sicilian, and Lower 

 Quaternary, a number of northern species had been found indicating 

 a colder climate. All the Saharian was a period of elevation, and 

 as this took place the Mediterranean Sea became smaller, and thus 

 the communication with the warmer seas became more restricted. 



In most of the formations a conglomerate is found, but the latter 

 ones seem to be derived from older ones, as shown by the lithological 

 similarity, and in all a dioritic porphyry occurs, only found, in situ, 

 by Catanzaro. 



The changes of level are carefully followed, beginning with the 

 Parisian, which was formed at a considerable depth, followed by 

 elevation in the Bartonian, reversal again taking place at the com- 

 mencement of the Ligurian, while at the close of the period there 

 was elevation, which continued into the Tongrian, towards the close 

 of which depression again commenced, and continued into the 

 Aquitanian, and until the end of the Langhian the conditions were 

 deep, when an elevation and formation of conglomerate took place, 

 to be followed by a small depression in the beginning of the 



