216 Notices of Memoirs — 



dates from immediately before the deposition of the Upper Bunter 

 Sandstone, and divides the Paleozoic rocks of south-western Germany 

 into two independent mountain ranges, viz. the Black Forest and the 

 Yosges. From thence northward during the Triassic and Jurassic 

 epochs it remained as a narrow sea-gulf, connected to the south with 

 the Franco-Swiss Jurassic sea, and to the east by a narrow strait 

 between Langenbruck and the Lowenstein Hills with that of Swabia. 

 Slowly the sea-bottom rose and formed, during the Cretaceous and in 

 the beginning of the Tertiary period, a continent, of the inhabitants 

 of which we have at present no knowledge. About the time when 

 the deposition of the Calcaire Grossier indicated continental land 

 on the south and east sides of the great Paris Basin, which was soon 

 covered with freshwater lakes, this event was shortly afterwards 

 followed by strata in similar lakes in what is now the Upper Ehine 

 valley. 



From the Upper Saone, over the Jura and Alsace to near Heidel- 

 berg, we meet with small patches of light coloured limestone, 

 everywhere filled with the same land and marsh shells, whose 

 nearest analogues are still living in tropical Asia, and in smaller 

 numbers in tropical America. Among them, but still very sparingly, 

 some species begin to appear, which at present are confined to the 

 Mediterranean district. Large Carnivora of the Lophiodon species, 

 such as that described by Cuvier from Buxweiler in Alsace, lurked in 

 the thickets on the lake-banks, whilst Crocodiles and bony-plated fish 

 lived in the waters. Of the once abundant Flora nothing remains to 

 us but a few fruits. We however cannot doubt but that it possessed 

 the same preponderating tropical character as the shells. The Upper 

 Ehine valley did not remain long under these conditions, the popu- 

 lation of the freshwater lakes and their environs gradually changed, 

 as is easily shown by a comparison of the shells and vertebrata of 

 the older limestones of Buxweiler with those of the more recent 

 beds at Brunnstadt in Alsace, and Kleinkems in Upper Baden. 

 Lophiodon is replaced by Anthracotherium, more nearly resembling 

 the pig, and along with it we find that most important mammal of 

 the Paris Basin, made so famous by Cuvier, the pachydermatous 

 Pal(Botherium. This typical form is remarkably interesting, stand- 

 ing as it does between the deteriorating forms of the modern 

 Tapirs and the Horse, from which it differs so widely, and in south- 

 western Germany it must have lived in great numbers, especially on 

 the Swabian Hills. In the Middle and Lower Eheinthal the Palceo- 

 iherium is nevertheless as sparingly represented as the Lophiodon. 

 Luxuriant forests surrounded the morasses, the beloved home of the 

 Anthracotherium ; here also a Fan-palm, Sabal major, most nearly 

 allied to the Swamp Palmetto of Southern North America, has 

 left, at Lobsann near Weissenburg, numerous impi'essions of its 

 graceful fans; whilst whole banks of the so-called Needle-coal 

 testify to the abundance of Coniferce. 



Below this the Ehine plain sinks gradually from Delsberg 

 as far as Bingen and Kreuznach, and from the south-west the sea 

 broke into the extensive depression, and spread along the present 



