ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixix 



by a freshwater lacustrine deposit, consisting of compact bituminous 

 limestones and marly limestones, interstratified with beds of rich 

 lignite or brown-coal. These beds, M. Haime thinks, may be iden- 

 tified with those of the gypsum of Provence. The fossils appeared 

 to be Melania laurcea, Planorhis ohfusus, Limncea jpyramidalis, and 

 two new species, Clausilia Beaumonti and Achatina Bouvyi. Other 

 tertiary beds occur, belonging to the middle tertiaries and of the age 

 of the Sub-apennine marls. The quaternary beds are found on the 

 sea-shore, and their fossils all belong to species now living in the 

 Mediterranean. They occur on the south, east, and north sides of 

 the island, but those on the south side differ from those found to the 

 north. 



The fossil evidence thus confirms the views formerly entertained 

 by M. Elie de Beaumont, on the authority of information derived 

 from M. Cambessedes. These beds, with their imbedded fossils, are 

 still more fully described in the Bulletin de la Soc. Geol. de France, 

 vol. xii. p. 234. 



M. Louis Bellardihas published a complete Classified List, or Cata- 

 logue Raisonne, of the Nummulitic fossils of the district of Nice, in 

 which he has been assisted by Prof. Sismonda for the Echinoderms, 

 by M. d'Archiac for the Foraminifera, and by M. Jules Haime for 

 the Corals. M. Bellardi omits all geological description, referring to 

 M. Sismonda's published work on the subject, and to the intended 

 publication of Prof. Perez. His object has been to describe the whole 

 nummulitic fauna of the environs of Nice, for the purpose of faci- 

 litating a comparison between it and the nummulitic formations of 

 other countries. He omits all reference to the age of the nummu- 

 litic beds, which he considers already settled by the labours of pre- 

 vious geologists, but he is of opinion that the simple comparison of 

 the fauna of this region with that of the Paris basin proves that it 

 belongs unquestionably to the Eocene period, in accordance with the 

 opinions of MM. Deshayes, Sismonda, and others. The list of 

 fossils contains 372 species belonging to the following classes : — 

 Cephalopoda, 5; Gasteropoda, 115; Acephala, 177; Annelida, 4 ; 

 Echinodermata, 22 ; Foraminifera, 1 7 ; Polypifera, or Corals, 29 ; 

 Bryozoa, 2 : of which 112 species are found in the Eocenes of the Paris 

 basin, 54 in the London basin, and 48 in Belgium. 



M. d'Archiac has published in the Journal I'lnstitut the outlines 

 of an Essay on the Geology of the mountainous district of the Cor- 

 bieres, communicated to the Philomathic Society in July 1855. The 

 district in question is situated near the Mediterranean, to the south 

 of Carcassone. The general features of the country had been already 

 correctly laid down by M. Dufrenoy and others, but M. d'Archiac 

 observes that he considered it would be useful to rearrange, by means 

 of fresh observations, the facts already known, — to endeavour to 

 classify them in a more methodical manner than had yet been done, 

 by adding certain orographical considerations hitherto neglected, 

 which help to explain more satisfactorily the geological details, — and, 

 finally, to determine several palseontological horizons, the details of 

 which were still imperfect. 



VOL. XII. / 



