40 



GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



The Fossil Mollusca of the Tertiary Basin o/ Vienna. By 

 Dr. MoRiTz HoRNES. Vol. i. Univalves. 4°, 1856, Vienna. 

 With 52 Lithographic plates. 



[Die Fossilen Mollusken des Tertiar-Beckens von Wien, u. s. w.] 



This magnificent Monograph of the Gasteropoda of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Tertiary formations, by Dr. Homes, assisted by the late 

 M. P. Partsch, was issued in Numbers, the first of which appeared 

 in 1851, and the tenth in 1856. On its completion, the monograph 

 has been published as a volume (the third) of the * Transactions of 

 the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna,' with a short prefatory 

 note from the pen of Dr. Haidinger, who feelingly alludes to the in- 

 terest taken in the Vienna fossils by M. Partsch, and notices the co- 

 operative labours of the artists and others in the work. 



Five hundred species (90 genera) of Univalves* are described in 

 detail and carefully figured in this work. The distribution of these 

 fossils in the Vienna Basin, and their occurrence in numerous other 

 localities are synoptically tabulated, pp. 687-711 ; their range in the 

 several members of the Austrian Tertiaries being distinctly indicated. 



This work is rich in synonymy and in detailed reviews of, the 

 labours of other conchologists ; and a full register is given of the 

 various works which the author has used during his laborious inves- 

 tigations. A map of the Vienna Basin, with geological indications 

 of the principal localities from which the specimens figured were ob- 

 tained, accompanies the memoir. Five subdivisions of the Vienna 

 Tertiaries are given by the author ; the following is the stratigraphical 

 sequence in descending order: — 1. Upper clay or "Tegel"; a 

 brackish-water deposit. 2. Cerithium-bed ; an important member 

 of the series, constituting towards the centre of the basin a passage- 

 group between the marine and the brackish beds. 3. Sand-beds, of 

 considerable local thickness. 4. Clay-beds and sand of the Leitha- 

 limestone ; littoral deposits. 5. Lower *'Tegel" or plastic clay; 

 a purely marine deposit ; often sandy. 



The tabular conspectus previously alluded to gives a view of the 

 occurrence and relative frequency of all the species described from 

 the most important localities of the Vienna Basin and the rest of 

 Europe, together with an indication of the forms still existing in the 

 British, Mediterranean, and Tropical seas. Of the 500 species of 

 Univalves described, ith still live in the Mediterranean ; about -^t\\ 

 (19) exist in the British, and nearly -^i\v (31) in the Tropical seas ; 

 so that this Basin may be considered to present the first outlines of 

 the present Mediterranean fauna, modified somewhat by a more tro- 

 pical temperature. 



The typographical and lithographical characters of the work are 

 in every respect creditable to the Imperial press from which it has 

 issued. P^- ^- J-] 



* Including one Pteropod,— and two, if Dentalium gadus, Mont., be also referred 

 to this family. — Edit. 



1^ i442 



