Ixxiv ' PEOGEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Cretaceous Formations. — Prof. Pictet of Geneva has publislied 

 during the past year the second volume of his great work on 

 the Cretaceous fossils of Switzerland, entitled " Description des 

 fossiles du terrain Cretace des environs de Sainte Croix," which 

 forms the third series of the " Materiaux pour la Paleontologie 

 Suisse," or " Collection of Monographs on the Possils of the Jura 

 and the Alps." Prof Pictet had already pointed out in the former 

 volume the necessity of local monographs carefully describing the 

 different portions of a formation in which the various fossils 

 occurred. Pie shows that serious and numerous errors would 

 be introduced, if, in describing the fossils of any given formation 

 from different localities, we were to overlook the importance of 

 these local lists. Possils would then appear to have been syn- 

 chronous, or to have lived together, when such was by no means 

 the case. As the fauna in each formation gradually changes from 

 its commencement to its end, so also does the fauna of the same 

 age vary in different places according to geographical or other 

 conditions of life, in space as well as in time, horizontally as well 

 as vertically, and therefore these carefully prepared local mono- 

 graphs become essentially important. 



This second volume completes the description of the organic 

 remains, and is accompanied by 55 plates, from pi. 44 to pi. 98. 

 It contains the conclusion of the Cephalopods, and an account 

 of the Grasteropods, and will form, from the great number of 

 species described, a most valuable addition to our knowledge of 

 the Cretaceous fossils. Por, as M. Pictet observes, the great 

 number and perfect state of preservation of the fossils of St. 

 Croix will make this locality a type for the better explanation and 

 elucidation of other less rich or less extensive deposits. 



Dr. Carl Zittel has published the first part of his work on the 

 Bivalves of the Grosau formation in the North-Eastern Alps. Di". 

 Zittel alludes to tlie great progress which has been made of late 

 years in describing the organic remains of the Chalk formation. 

 In Austria, particularly, great interest has been taken in this field 

 of inquiry. Herr Zekeli has published a monograph of the Gras- 

 teropods ; Keuss has given an excellent work on the Corals and 

 Poraminifera ; Yon Hauer one on the Cephalopods ; and Dr. P. 

 Stoliczka on the Preshwater MoUusks of the Neualpe. He has 

 therefore undertaken to fill up the gap caused by the want of a 

 monograph on the Bivalves. 



This part contains the great group of the Dimyaria ; the second 

 part, which he hopes to publish in the course of this year, wiU 

 comprise the remainiug division of the Asiphonidre or Monomy- 

 aria, the Budistse and Brachiopoda. "With the completion of this 

 monograph, and another which Prof. Suess has undertaken respect- 

 ing the recently discovered Saurian remains, the interesting Pauna 

 of the Grosau formation will be well known, and a foundation 

 will be laid for a full geological inquiry into the Alpine Chalk 

 formation in Austria. 



In a small work, lately published by Signer Perazzi at Turin, 



