ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XCUl 



steppes which stretch from the foot of the Caucasus into the interior 

 of Central Asia. M. Abich reports that M. Helmersen is preparing 

 a memoir on the formations surrounding the Sea of Aral. 



Italy. — A notice on the Geological Map of Sardinia, by General 

 A. de la Marmora, also occurs in the twelfth volume of the * Bulletin,' 

 in which the gallant General describes with great care the principal 

 plates of the atlas of his geological description of that island. Some 

 of the plates are finished, the others are in progress. The geological 

 map of the island is on the same scale as that of France by MM. Elie 

 de Beaumont and Dufrenoy, and the author has employed almost the 

 same colours for the different formations. Thirteen straight lines on 

 the map represent the sections through the principal features. These 

 form a separate plate. Two others represent the principal eruptive 

 phsenomena. Some of the basaltic appearances, and the most recent 

 volcanic outbursts, are analogous to those of Auvergne. 

 , A new labourer in the field of Italian geology has appeared in the 

 person of Crescenzo Montagna, captain of the Royal Corps of Artil- 

 lery of Naples, who has recently published in that city a work on 

 the coal of Agnana. This locality for Italian coal is, I believe, 

 new. Agnana is situated near Geraci, in the southern part of Cala- 

 bria. The object of Capt. Montagna' s work is, in the first place, to 

 point out the various sedimentary formations which occur in the 

 district he describes, and then to determine the geological age to be 

 ascribed to the coal in question. The work itself is interesting and 

 unpretending ; and, considering the difficulty of obtaining informa- 

 tion, or seeing the works of other geologists in other fields, in a 

 country so circumstanced, both physically and politically, as the 

 kingdom of Naples, it evinces both energy and perseverance on 

 the part of the author. At the same time this very circumstance 

 has occasionally led him to enter on the consideration of questions 

 already decided, and permanently established by all geological au- 

 thorities. 



It is clear from the fossils found by the author, that the upper 

 beds, which form gently undulating hills rising from the sea-side, and 

 which contain Cassidaria echinophora, belong to the Sub-apennine 

 formation. Other tertiary formations succeed in descending order ; 

 below these are calcareous beds, containing two, if not more, species of 

 Nerinceai and clearly indicating the existence of cretaceous beds. The 

 coal-beds underlie this formation, which reposes on argillaceous schists, 

 in which organic remains are scarce and uncertain. The fragmentary 

 relics are considered by the author as representing forms belonging 

 to the mountain limestone, but the evidence is as yet incomplete. 



The following, in descending order, is the sequence of formations 

 observed and described by the author : — 



I. Tertiary. 1. Subapennine. Hills at the foot of Liderno. 



2. Falunian. Timpa di Tenda, — shell-beds of 



Geraci and Salvi. 



3. Paris and London-clay basin. White marls, 



Calcaire grossier, gypsum. 



