ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxix 



a paper on the Echinoids of the Upper Jura beds from Nikolsburg 

 in Moravia, with a description of the new species found in that 

 locaUty, and refers to the previous works of MM. Ferstl, Homes, 

 Siiss, and Foetterle, who had already partially examined the geology 

 and palaeontology of that district. 



The occurrence of a fragment of carbonized wood in the rock-salt 

 of Wieliczka, a specimen of which had been forwarded by Prof. 

 Zeuschner to Prof. Hausmann of Gottingen, has been the subject of 

 much discussion at Vienna. The fragment which still exhibits the 

 structure of wood has generally a lignite appearance, although Prof. 

 Hausmann is rather disposed to compare it with certain species of 

 anthracite from the Meissner in Hesse, and also considers that it has 

 been exposed to and altered by the action of heat. This, it has been 

 observed at Vienna, would reopen the question, how far rock-salt is 

 to be considered as the result of an eruptive process. I do not see 

 it in this light. For even admitting that the wood has been acted 

 on by heat, it does not necessarily follow that that action must have 

 taken place after it was imbedded in the rock-salt. But the carbo- 

 nization of fossil wood is not necessarily the result of heat. Nor 

 does it appear that there is any ground for reverting to a theory now 

 supposed to be exploded that rock-salt is an igneous product. 



It is also highly satisfactory to observe, that considerable progress 

 is being made in working out the geology of the more distant pro- 

 vinces of the Austrian Empire. 



In the ' Comptes Rendus' for September last (p. 386) is a notice 

 by M. Fran9ois Lanza on the geological formations of Dalmatia. 

 Omitting all reference to the tertiary beds, of which the fossiliferous 

 beds of the eocene period are the most important, M. Lanza con- 

 fines his attention for the present to the cretaceous formation. The 

 series of white chalk (la craie blanche) contains numerous species of the 

 family Rudistes, many of which are new. Of these, several species of 

 Radiolites and Hippurites appear to be the most important. Some 

 of them are of large size. M. Lanza found in the cretaceous lime- 

 stone of Verpolia, near Sibenico, a gigantic Hippurite of which he 

 possesses a fragment 80 centimetres in length, with a diameter of 

 10 centimetres. The author has never found any species of Inoce- 

 ramus in this Hippurite limestone, although he found several new 

 species in the supracretaceous beds of yellow marly sands, associated 

 with Nummulites. He also found a calcareous schist with Ichthy- 

 olites in the Jurassic formation. Through the labours of the Vienna 

 geologists we may now hope that the interesting details of the geology 

 of Dalmatia, apparently rich in fossils, will soon be satisfactorily 

 worked out. 



In the Report of the Proceedings of the Imperial Institute of Geo- 

 logy for March 1855, Prof. Lipoid has communicated additional in- 

 formation respecting the cretaceous and eocene formations in the N.E. 

 portion of Carinthia*. Dr. Homes has lately made out fifteen fossil 

 species, which belong to the lowest members of the eocene formation, 

 and have the greatest resemblance with the fossils found in the Val 

 * Neues Jahrhueh fiir Mineralogie, 1855, p. 586. 



