1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 161 



In Austria a new map of that empire has been pubHshed, in which 

 the flysch of the very zone in question, or a large portion of it, is 

 represented as Keuper. On the Itahan face of the Alps and in the 

 Apennines, some deposits, that I believe to be the same, are coloured 

 as cretaceous, and are grouped (in the new map of Collegno) with all 

 the deposits down to the lower greensand or Neocomian inclusive. This 

 has been, indeed, the systematic view of most of the continental geolo- 



fists. It has been chiefly adopted in pursuance of the opinions of M. 

 )lie de Beaumont and M. Dufrenoy, who have coloured their admirable 

 map of France on this principle. The conclusion of these authors is 

 based upon the fact, that the nummulitic group, including the flysch of 

 the Alps, has undergone all the movements which have affected the 

 subjacent cretaceous rocks. Fully admitting that such are the phy- 

 sical relations, I nevertheless contend, that we cannot establish a com- 

 parative geological chronology between the strata of the north of 

 Europe and those of the south, if af^er the evidences about to be 

 submitted, we do not admit, that the group in question is truly lower 

 tertiary, inasmuch as it lies above all rocks containing cretaceous or 

 secondary fossils, is charged with an eocene fauna, and is succeeded in 

 ascending order by formations filled with younger tertiary shells. 



In the first portion of this memoir I give a general description, in 

 ascending order, of the sedimentary rocks which constitute the whole 

 chain of the Alps. After describing in succession the palaeozoic and 

 secondary formations, I point out the leading changes they have 

 undergone in their range from the eastern to the western portion of 

 the chain. The relations of the cretaceous and nummulitic rocks will 

 then be discussed at greater length, followed by some data on the 

 age and relations of the younger tertiary deposits of Switzerland ; and 

 this part will be concluded by descriptions of some of the principal 

 fractures, inversions and contortions which these sedimentary strata 

 have undergone. 



A short sketch will give my present views of the succession on the 

 north flank of the Carpathians, and explain the anomalies of the so- 

 called Carpathian sandstone. 



The third part, referring chiefly to Italy and the Apennines, will be 

 terminated by a review of the organic remains and the order of the 

 strata which establish the true age of the nummulitic group, not only 

 in the south of Europe, but also in Egypt, Asia, and those vast regions 

 of the globe over which it extends. A general resume concludes the 

 memoir. 



Part I. 



General Structure of the Alps. 



It is now eighteen years since Prof. Sedgwick and myself pointed 

 out that the chain of the Eastern Alps, when considered only in a 

 general point of view, was of simple structure, in exhibiting a sym- 

 metrical succession of deposits from a crystalline centre through trans- 

 ition rocks now termed *' palaeozoic," flanked by grand secondary 



