167 



gniart, rests upon contorted limestone and schist. Between Monte 

 Rosso and Vernazza the schists are much disturbed, and near 

 Capo Mesco, and again at Levanto, diallage rock and serpentine 

 passing into each other are protruded from beneath highly inclined 

 beds of sandstone, in which are also many faults. These serpentine 

 rocks seem to be prolongations of the great developement of the 

 same system in Southern Liguria ; and, to illustrate more fully their 

 nature, the author gives a section of their relations in a contiguous 

 district at Monte Ferrato, where, as has already been noticed by M. 

 Brongniart, gray compact limestone and slaty shale and jasper are 

 covered by serpentine and diallage rocks, which, in one place, seem to 

 traverse and cut through the strata. 



In conclusion, the author observes, that if the Porto Venere mar- 

 bles be considered equivalent to any part of the oolite formation, they 

 afford a striking example of the little value of mineralogical structure 

 as a character taken by itself, and show the extreme caution that 

 should be used in assigning names to rocks from hand specimens, 

 brought home by distant expeditions, without the accompaniment of 

 organic remains. He considers that the diallage rock and serpentine of 

 Southern Liguria, have been intruded among these rocks subsequent 

 to the epoch of the oolite formation : and regards the diallage rock 

 and serpentine as of igneous origin, concurring in opinion with those 

 geologists who attribute to these rocks in common with granite and 

 trap, and the forces that ejected them, the contortion and fracture 

 of the stratified rocks, and their consequent elevation into ridges and 

 mountains. 



Jan. 15. — William Parker, Esq. of Albany-street, Regent's Park ; 

 and the Rev. H. P. Hamilton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, were 

 elected Fellows of this Society. 



A paper was read, entitled " On the Fossil Fox of CEningen, with 

 an account of the Lacustrine Deposit in which it was found," by 

 R. I. Murchison, Esq. Sec. G.S. F.R.S. &c. 



The author visiting CEningen in 1828, acquired among other 

 organic remains a perfect skeleton of a carnivorous quadruped, 

 imbedded in a layer of slaty limestone, and the specific character 

 of which has since been ascertained through the scientific labours of 

 Mr. Mantell. 



A short account is given of the works of the various authors 

 who have described the fossils of CEningen, from the time of 

 Scheuchzer to that of Karg. Cuvier, however, is mentioned as the 

 first who gave true specific characters to the vertebrated animals of 

 this formation, and who ascertained that all the mammalia hitherto 

 discovered in it were " Rodentia." 



The author differing in opinion from an eminent French geolo- 

 gist, who has described this deposit as subordinate to the molasse, 

 proceeds to show that the formation is exclusively lacustrine; and 

 in proof of this, he offers, 1st, a description of the deposit, and its 

 relations to the surrounding country ; and 2ndly, a sketch of the 

 organicremains. 



