﻿66 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 18, 



December 18, 1850. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. Notice of the discovery of a New Combustible Substance in 



Russia. 



[Communicated from the Foreign Office, by order of Viscount Palmerston.] 

 A combustible substance, named ' Pungernite' by M. Bulgarine, 

 has been found in the Silurian formation between Rana-Pungern and 

 Gross-Pungern, on the road from Dorpat to Narva, in Esthonia. It 

 occurs in the form of a yellowish brown, laminated layer, speckled 

 with white, very light, and as hard as coal. It burns freely and 

 brightly, giving off a great quantity of soot. According to M. Pet- 



zoldt*, its constituents are — 



Organic matter 65*5 



Silica 13-6 



Oxide of iron and alumina 2*3 



Carbonate of lime 17*0 



Carbonate of magnesia 0-2 



Water .. 1-2 



99-8 



2. On the Epiolitic Rocks of the Venetian Alps. 

 By Prof. T. A. Catullo. 

 [In a Letter to Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, V.P.G.S.] 

 Prefatory Remarks by Sir R. I. Murchison. — In communicating, 

 at his own request, this memoir of Professor Catullo, I must be per- 

 mitted to state, that, with every wish to do him justice, I do not coin- 

 cide in his views. The allusions I made to Professor Catullo in the 

 Sketch of the Alps and Apennines (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. v.) 

 referred to opinions maintained by him in 1847 at the Scientific Con- 

 gress of Venice, and I could not be supposed to be cognizant of his 

 having since adopted the same ideas as nis adversaries. The zoolo- 

 gical portion of his paper must be left to the consideration of M. 

 Leopold v. Buch and M. de Zigno, who have studied the fossils. On 

 points more immediately touching myself, I need scarcely remind the 

 reader that the Permian Flora is not common to several formations — 

 that the Flysch or Macigno is not the equivalent of the Scaglia ; the 

 first being a tertiary, the last a secondary formation. My belief is 

 in no way affected by this memoir, and I now hold, as I did in 1848, 

 that the rocks which Professor Catullo has termed Epi-oYitic, when 

 separated from the Neocomian, are simply the representatives of the 

 Oxfordian group. 



Being unaware of the changes I have introduced since the publication 

 of my ( Prodromus'f, and within the last three years, you are still % 



* L'Abeille du Nord. 



f Prodromo di Geognosia Paleozoica delle Alpi Venete. 

 X Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. v. p. 179. 



