1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 235 



of a mile from the lower quarry are fully displayed in the upper 

 quarry *, the descending order in which is as follows : — 



Ft. In. 

 Soft and decomposing bluish grey and white marls used as brick earth, 



the lower portion consisting of courses from two to eight inches thick, 



of finely laminated marlstones with very thin laminae of chert, about . 20 



Soft bed in which the tooth of a mastodon has been found 1 6 



Fish-bed (marly hmestone), fishes abundant 2 



Insect-bed (very finely laminated) 2 



" Kleine und grosse Moden," stone bands with a few fishes 4 



" Salamander Flatten," in which the Andrias Scheuchzeri was found ; fishes 



rare 5 



** Schildkrot schicht," or tortoise-bed, in which the Chelydra Murchisoni 



(Bell) occurred 6 



Shale or marl, varying from two or three inches in one part to two feet in 



others 1 



" Diehl Stein," or plank-bed, so called because it breaks into long thin 



board-like flags 1 



Fox-bed, 2. e. the in&x\y \\me&ione enc\o%m^ the Galecynus (Eningensis ... 4 



Fish-bed with numerous fishes, frogs, and several small quadrupeds 6 



" Kessel Stein," or bottom beds of the quarry loaded with plants and the 



freshwater shells " Anodonta" 1 2 



High as it may be in the geological series, and posterior as it cer- 

 tainly is to the marine strata of St. Gallen and Baden with certain 

 existing species of sea shells, the Q^ningen deposit is not, however, as 

 I formerly supposed, a link between extinct and existing nature. In- 

 deed, whilst I expressed that opinion, I contended that stupendous 

 changes had occurred since this lacustrine matter was accumulated. 

 I showed to what a depth the valley of the Rhine had been subse- 

 quently excavated, and how the drift, erratic blocks, and loss had after- 

 wards been deposited ; but judging from the best opinions I could 

 then obtain from naturalists respecting the characters of the animals, 

 whether quadrupeds, fishes, shells or insects, or from the plants, I 

 was led to think that they very nearly approached, and in some cases 

 were midistmguishable from, living fonus. 



More precise researches, however, lead to a very different conclusion. 

 Amidst the multitude of well-preserved fossils, not one, it is now said, 

 is strictly identifiable with an existing species. The closest analogy, 

 indeed, exists between the manner in which the animals and vegeta- 

 bles have been entombed in the mud of this former lake and that 

 which would still prevail. The fossil insects Blatta and Nepa are 

 there found, as I formerly saidf, collocated with remains of the 



* On this occasion we were so fortunate as to find the present proprietor of 

 the quarries, M. Baiih, busily directing his workmen, and as he has made re- 

 searches for many years, I took down the description of each stratum from him. 

 M. Earth having been unfortunate in trade now devotes himself exclusively to the 

 extraction of the rarer fossils, and in preparing suites of them for sale. M. de 

 Seyfried of Constance possesses the most perfect of the collections of the (Eningen 

 fossils with which I am acquainted, all found since I last visited that country. In 

 it I observed five noble specimens of Andrias Scheuchzeri (Homo diluvii testis), 

 Lagomys (Eningensis, Chelydra Murchisoni, and another species of tortoise un- 

 described ; and among many splendid fishes an eel three feet long, the Coluber 

 Oiveni, the tooth of the Mastodon angustidens, &c. 



t Tians. Geol. Soc. London, 2nd Ser. vol. iii. p. 286. 



