369 



the Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie und Geologie must be mentioned as 

 being of that clear arrangement, and of that great general utility to 

 the geologist, which might have been expected from the association 

 of one like M. Leonhard, so deeply versed in the inorganic processes 

 of nature, with so able a naturalist as M. Bronn. Karsten's Berlin 

 Journal must also be noticed; for every Prussian work connected 

 with our science cannot but excite interest among us, so long as 

 that country shall continue to send forth such geologists as Hum- 

 boldt, Von Buch, Hoffmann, Dechen, and Oyenhausen ; all of whom 

 add lustre to the foreign list of our Society. 



The fossil tortoise which I had mentioned in a memoir upon 

 CEningen, has found its way to this country, owing to the liberality 

 of Mr. Bell, who proves it to be a Chelydra, allied to the C. Ser- 

 pentina, or Snapping Tortoise, of North America. The paper of 

 this excellent zootomist is of great interest in completing the proofs, 

 that all the animals of this rich deposit, whether fox, tortoise, or 

 lagomys, as well as the insects, were such as would naturally have 

 been associated together on the shores of a freshwater lake, and 

 might have been tranquilly deposited at its boltom in alternating 

 layers with a variety of fishes and lacustrine shells*. 



Sir Alexander Crichton has favoured us with a communication 

 from the Baron Chaudoir on the Crimea, containing much valu- 

 able detail of the mineral structure of that Peninsula. This essay 

 will, I trust, incite some of our enterprising associates to explore 

 that region, for the purpose of affording us a clear insight into the 

 precise geological relations of the strata, which, from the general data 

 in Baron Chaudoir's Memoir, we may infer to be very analogous 

 to those of the Morea and parts of Greece, as described by M. de 

 Boblaye ; and of the north-western flanks of the Caucasus, as 

 sketched by M. Kupffer. 



Dr. Christie has communicated to us some good observations, made 

 by him last summer, during a rapid journey through Sicily ; and they 

 give us a fair promise of what we may expect from this accomplished 

 traveller, when he shall have examined the geological structure of 

 those parts of the Peninsula of Hindostan, to which he is now pro- 

 ceeding by the route of Egypt. He describes the general structure 

 of the sedimentary formations of the island, as consisting of an axis of 

 old, secondary sandstone, the two principal chains of which have dis- 

 cordant directions, overlaid by limestone, frequently dolomitic, yet 

 often stratified, of the age of that of the Jura or the Apennines. 

 Marls and limestone, containing Hippurites and Nummulites, con- 

 stitute the youngest secondary group, and are referred to the green 

 sand and chalk. The oldest tertiary deposits, made up of limestones 

 and marls, are succeeded by an extensive calcareous formation, which 

 is charged with many species of existing shells, the beds of which are, 

 in some places, elevated to a height of several thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. Of still more modern date, and chiefly composed of 

 the detritus of the last-mentioned limestone, is a conglomerate, which 



* See Memoir, Geol. Trans, vol. iii. part ii. p. 277. 



