MORTILLET ITALIAN AND FRENCH ALPS. 23 



argillaceous, thinly laminated portion, much resembling Planer, 

 with but few fossils, locally containing the chelas of Callianassa 

 Faujasi in abundance ; (b) calcareous fossiliferous strata (Beyrich's 

 Planer- sandstone) ; and (c) an upper portion, thicker, highly arena- 

 ceous, and fossiliferous. Inoceramus Cuvieri, I. mgtiloides, and Lima 

 multicostata occur abundantly; next to them come Inoceramus 

 Brongniarti, Leguminaria truncidata, Ostrea vesicularis, Janira 

 quinquecostata, Pecten Icevis, Area glabra, Hippurites ellipticus, 

 Hamites rotundus, H. plicatilis, Hemiaster bufo, and Micraster cor- 

 anguinum. The Qnacler Sandstone (3) may be subdivided, upon the 

 same principle as the Marl, into an upper, highly glauconitic portion 

 (Green-sandstone), and an inferior white portion without any trace 

 of carbonate of lime, with intercalations of shales from five to ten 

 feet thick, and containing a thin seam of coal. The Conglomerate (4), 

 which is entirely composed of rolled fragments of quartz, without any 

 trace of organic remains, is here, as everywhere within the Creta- 

 ceous districts of Bohemia, the lowermost deposit of this formation. 



[Count M.] 



A Comparison of the Strata of the Italian and French Slopes of 

 the Alps. By M. Gabriel de Mortillet. 



[Terrains du versant italien des Alps compares a ceux du versant francais ; par 

 M. Gabriel de Mortillet. Bulletin cle la Sceiete Geologique de France, 

 vol. xix. 1862, pp. 849-907.] 



The central axis of the Alps consists of a series of channels which 

 have been formed by crystalline rocks. The fossiliferous rocks, to 

 adopt the expression of M. Elie de Beaumont, lie around them like 

 the edges of vast button-holes. It may, therefore, be presumed that 

 the sedimentary rocks are the same on both sides, though hitherto 

 this has been denied. 



It would follow from this that the upheaval of the Alps is more 

 ancient than is generally admitted ; that it was effected during suc- 

 cessive epochs, and was accompanied by oscillations of level. The 

 sediments on the two slopes have thus been deposited independently 

 of each other ; nevertheless they have a general correspondence. 



Although, as a whole, the crystalline rocks form the axis of the 

 chain, yet, on the Italian side, they are prolonged to its extreme 

 boundary ; and in Piedmont they rise immediately from the plain, 

 constituting the advanced guards of the mountains. 



Silurian and Devonian rocks have as yet been recognized only 

 towards the extreme north-east of the Austrian Alps. M. de Mortillet 

 notices, in connexion with them, Sir R. Murchison's views respecting 

 the probable metamorphism of strata of this age, and concludes that, 

 at this epoch, the axis of the Alps consisted of a protuberance almost 

 wholly above the waters. 



Carboniferous rocks have been detected in the eastern portions of 



