﻿TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES 



OF 



GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



On the Anthracite Plants of the Alps. 

 By Professor Oswald Heer. 



[Leonhard und Bronn's Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineral, u. s. w. 1850, pp. 657-674 ; 

 Mittheil. der Nat. Gesellsch. in Zurich, 1850 ; and Abstract, Biblioth. Univ. 

 Geneve, March, 1851.] 



When Adolphe Brongniart, twenty-two years ago, described the an- 

 thracitic plants of the Tarentaise*, he referred them to the Lias, on 

 the authority of Elie de Beaumont, and endeavoured by an ingenious 

 hypothesis to explain the remarkable fact, that these plants without 

 exception agreed, not only generically but specifically, with those of 

 the Coal-measures. Brongniart has since retracted this opinion, 

 which was completely refuted by Favref; and he now considers these 

 anthracitic plants J as belonging to the Carboniferous flora, which is 

 the view taken by Unger, Bunbury, and all the botanists who have 

 studied the matter. The geologists are divided in opinion. E. de 

 Beaumont and Sismonda adhere to the original view, which is, that 

 the anthracitic and belemnitic schists belong to one formation, viz. 

 the Lias ; and Murchison has lately adopted this view§ ; so that it 

 is supported by the highest authorities. 



On the other hand, Favre has pointed out || that the Anthracite of 

 La Mure in the Isere Department underlies the Lias, which is the 

 reverse of the case in the Tarentaise, where the beds, he asserts, have 

 acquired their present position by folding. This also is the opinion 

 of A. Escher von der Linth. These geologists believe that an in- 

 version of the strata has taken place in Petit-Cceur, so as to bring 

 the bed with Belemnites under the plant-beds. The point is of great 

 interest ; since not only the question, whether the entire Carboniferous 

 system is wanting in the Alps, depends upon it ; but also whether 

 the results arising from the study of the fossil flora entitle us to come 

 to conclusions as to the history of the development of the vegetable 

 creation**. For we cannot conceal from ourselves, that if the anthra- 



* Annal. des Sciences Nat. 1828, p. 113. 



t Sur les Anthracites des Alpes, Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve, torn. ix. p. 418. 

 % Comp. Annal. des Scien. Nat. 1849, p. 298. 



§ On the Structure of the Alps, Apennines, and Carpathians, Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc. 1848, vol. v. pp. 175 et seq. [See Sir R. I. Murchison's further observa- 

 tions on the Petit-Cceur Section, Ibid. vol. vi. p. 382, note. — Ed.] 



II Loc. cit. p. 423. 



** [See Anniv. Address, supra (No. 26), pp. xliii et seq. — Ed.] 

 VOL. VII. PART II. I 



