Prof. A. Gaiidry — Palceontology in Germany. 557 



Salamander, sometimes several young ones as the viper or the blind 

 worm ? This appears to me extraordinar}', and explains why it was 

 formerly believed that the young found in the interior of the Ichthyo- 

 saurus had been eaten by it, 



Munich possesses important collections of palaeontology adminis- 

 tered by Professor Zittel : for example, that of Ammonites which, it 

 is said, is the most complete in existence, and the series of admirable 

 preparations of fossil sponges, whose skeletons Dr. Zittel has 

 developed by steeping in acidulated water. 



I have seen again with pleasure the fossils of Pikermi, that 

 Wagner had the merit of first making known. 



But the principal curiosity of the Palseontological Museum of 

 Munich is the collection of fossils of the Lithographic Stone or Upper 

 White Jura, of Solenhofen, in Bavaria. 



If one must go to Stuttgart to study the Trias and Lias, it is to 

 Munich one must proceed to admire the Oolite. 



All geologists know that the stones of Solenhofen were originally 

 mud, which was deposited upon a shore, where at the same time 

 the inhabitants of the sea met those of land ; in this mud, creatui'es of 

 the most different and the most delicate organization, belonging to the 

 Oolitic epoch, are preserved in the most astonishing perfection ; one 

 finds thei'e, down to Acalephfe, a multitude of Crustacea, insects which 

 have retained the most delicate neuration of their wings, their legs 

 and antennee; Ammonites with their aptychus, and Fishes which are 

 in course of passing from the Ganoid to the Teleostean state. It is 

 there especially that one goes to study the flying rej)tiles, where 

 they appear in all positions. 



There also may be seen the little Compsognathus, which long 

 before the discovery of the entire Iguanodons of Belgium enabled 

 us to understand the appearance of these Dinosaurians. The paleeon- 

 tologist thinks he is dreaming whilst contemplating this gathering 

 together of beings which permit him to fancy himself in the Second- 

 ary period almost as perfectly as if it were the present epoch ; one 

 can readily believe, after seeing this grand collection, that a day will 

 come, in which our successors will have a clear idea of the life-history 

 of all past ages. 



It is well known that Vienna, for a long time deservedly extolled 

 for its animation and gaiety, is becoming a splendid city, that its 

 fortifications have been replaced by spacious boulevards bordered by 

 gardens, fine houses and palaces. 



Science is about to profit largely by these transformations. 



On one side of the new Hotel de Ville, the sumptuous palace of 

 Parliament has been erected, and as a companion building on the 

 other side, the palace of the University. 



At a short distance from the Palace of Parliament, opposite the 

 Palace of the Emperor, they are finishing, at this moment, the 

 Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History. Thus 

 the University and the Museum of Natural History are in the most 

 magnificent quarters of Vienna ; it is not as in Paris, where our 

 Jardin des Pluntes is banished so far from the centre. 



