XCVl PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Ezquerra del Bayo and Paillete, he drew attention to the palaeonto- 

 logy of Spain. M. Ezquerra first noticed the existence of fossil 

 bones in the miocene formation of Madrid, and the latter, having 

 discovered in the Asturias and the kingdom of Leon devonian fos- 

 sils in a very perfect state of preservation, enabled MM. de Verneuil 

 and d'Archiac to write two memoirs on the palaeontology of those 

 districts. Subsequently M. de Verneuil, in his work *' Sur la Con- 

 stitution Geologique de plusieurs Provinces d'Espagne," published 

 some lists of fossils found in the secondary rocks. But a great gap 

 still existed between the palaeozoic and Jurassic formations. Slight 

 indications of the trias had been observed by several geologists, but 

 it was only in 1853 and 1854 that M. de Verneuil and his companions 

 in this field were fortunate enough to discover the characteristic fos- 

 sils of the muschel-kalk, viz. Ceratites resembling C. nodosus. Nau- 

 tilus bidorsatus, Myophoria IcEmgata, and M. curvirostris. These 

 interesting species were obtained from ELombrados to the east of 

 Molina de Aragon, from the neighbourhood of Mora and of Tivisa, 

 not far from the mouth of the Ebro. 



But to return to the recent operations of M. Casciano de Prado : 

 convinced that the geology of a province cannot be understood if 

 confined to political boundaries, this enterprising geologist extended 

 his investigation into all the provinces bordering those of which the 

 geological examination had been confided to him : thus we are in- 

 debted to him for the first geological map of the provinces of Madrid 

 and Segovia, in which the geographical features, thanks to the map 

 of M. Coello, are laid down with unusual care and exactitude. 

 During the past year M. Casciano de Prado was further instructed 

 to make a detailed topographical map of the different deposits of coal 

 in the province of Palencia. The examination of other carboniferous 

 basins on the southern flank of the Cantabrian chain was confined to 

 other persons, of whose labours M. de Verneuil has not been able to 

 give us an account. 



Notwithstanding the political disturbances, M. de Prado continued 

 his labours during the whole summer. He discovered three granitic 

 outbursts or islands in the Cantabrian chain. The Devonian and 

 Carboniferous formations are so arranged that the former expands 

 from east to west, at the expense of the latter. Thus in the pro- 

 vince of Leon few Carboniferous fossils are found, but many Devonian ; 

 whilst, on the contrary, in the province of Palencia, the Carboniferous 

 fossils are more abundant than the Devonian. M. de Prado has 

 greatly added to the carboniferous fauna of Spain, for he says that 

 he has found more than one hundred species in the province of 

 Palencia alone. The results of his labours are such that he has now 

 been enabled to prepare a geological map of the four important pro- 

 vinces of Madrid, Segovia, Palencia, and Valladolid. 



M. de Verneuil also calls our attention to an admirable geological 



account of the kingdom of Valencia, by M. F. de Botella, published 



in the Mining Review* of Spain. It is accompanied by a geological 



map, the basis of which was laid down by M. de Verneuil himself, when 



* Re vista Minera, vol. v. pp. 562 & 675. 



