Ixxviii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



After giving a detailed comparison of the nomenclatures followed 

 in the description of the fossils, and of the local beds and their peculiar 

 fossils, as well as of the general fauna itself in the two countries, the 

 author sums up with certain general conclusions, in which he observes 

 that it would be difficult to find two countries, offering at the same time 

 such striking contrasts in the details and such harmony on the whole, 

 as Bohemia and Scandinavia. Some of these contrasts are very remark- 

 able. Out of 2500 or 3000 species found in the two countries, there 

 are scarcely any identically the same. Thus, out of 350 Trilobites 

 in Scandinavia and 275 in Bohemia, there are only six forms common 

 to the two countries. 



After pointing out other contrasts and analogies, the author states that 

 these observations have led to the refutation of two opinions hitherto 

 almost universally accepted. The one is that the earliest created 

 beings belonged to a class of organic life holding a very low position 

 in point of organization. This is disproved by the high degree of de- 

 velopment of the Trilobites, which evidently represent the earliest 

 living creation on the globe. The other is the generally received 

 opinion of the almost universal diffusion of the same fauna, in the 

 older beds, over all the seas of the ancient world. The comparison 

 of the faunas of Scandinavia and Bohemia shows that organic life in 

 the oldest periods was subject to the same limited and exclusive laws 

 of distribution and settlement as are observed in the present day. 

 This is particularly the case with the Crustaceans. The Brachiopoda 

 alone appear to have had a more universal extension in the Silurian 

 epochs. 



Prof. Girard of Halle has published an interesting volume on the 

 Geology of the North German Plain, particularly between the Elbe 

 and the Vistula, accompanied by a geological map of the country be- 

 tween Magdeburg and the Oder. This district comprises those loca- 

 lities in which the Tertiary formations of North Germany are being 

 now so successfully worked out by Prof. Beyrich and others, and 

 we therefore hail with pleasure any additional information on the 

 subject. The author is Professor of Mineralogy at Halle, and, except 

 in so far as general remarks are concerned, does not appear to have 

 given much attention to the palaeontology of the country. The work 

 is divided into three parts, the first of which is a geographical and 

 orographical description of the country, containing an account of 

 its principal physical features — hills, valleys, and river-courses. 

 There are curious speculations regarding the former course of the 

 Vistula through the lowlands to the west of its present line, and the 

 possibility of the Oder having also been similarly affected. After 

 describing the different ranges of hills, which partly intersect and 

 partly bound the district in question, the author concludes the first 

 portion of his work in the following ^ords : — " To recapitulate the 

 foregoing sketch of the East German lowlands, it represents, as we have 

 already stated, a triangle, the southern side of which is formed by 

 certain ridges of hills equally extended and but slightly separated, 

 whilst the north side consists of a chain of hills broken up by nume- 

 rous gorges ; between these hills a flat extent of country stretches 



