CXIV PROCKEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



M. de Venieuil and those Spanish geologists and miners who, with 

 M. Casciano de Prado, have for some years heen actively employed 

 on the geology of that country. Indeed, had it not been for the wish 

 of the authors to delay its publication until they had obtained the 

 materials collected by M. de Verneuil respecting the geology of the 

 Peninsula, the map would have been published long ago. We are 

 greatly indebted to them for having thus filled up this blank in Eu- 

 ropean geology. Still all is not yet done in the Peninsula, notwith- 

 standing the labours and exertions of MM. d'Archiac, de Verneuil 

 and others. M. d'Archiac, it is well known, was the first to esta- 

 blish the existence of the Trias in Spain, and I have no doubt that 

 we shall soon obtain from him and his fellow labourers and associates 

 in that field much additional information on this subject. 



The following account of the progress of the geological map of 

 Germany, which has been recently forwarded to me from one of those 

 w^ho are actively engaged in the undertaking, will, I am sure, be read 

 with interest : — 



" In Bavaria, the surveys of the Fichtelgebirge, of the Bavarian 

 Forest, and of the neighbourhood of Regensburg, under the direction of 

 Prof. Giimbel, are completed. In Darmstadt the following sections, 

 Bredenkopf and Gladenbach, prepared by Herr v. Dechen, that of 

 Budingen by Ludwig, and Giessen by DiefPenbach, who is, alas ! no 

 more, are already finished and in the engraver's hands. The district 

 of Friedberg is published. The Hessian Government has provided 

 ample means, and everything is progressing satisfactorily. The 

 German Geological Society has given over all the original sketches 

 and plans to M. v. Dechen, to prepare a new general Index Geolo- 

 gical Map of Germany. He has completed his task, and will shortly 

 publish the map. You probably already know that Rhenish Prussia 

 and Westphalia are entirely laid down, and that two sections of the 

 Westphalian cretaceous district have already appeared. The execu- 

 tion is the finest I have seen in Germany, In Baden, all our prepa- 

 rations are made, and I believe we shall commence in a short time, 

 if peace is secured." 



I must also inform you that M. v. Dechen, the distinguished Prus- 

 sian mining engineer and geologist, also exhibited at Paris a Geolo- 

 gical Map of the Rhenish provinces of Prussia and of Westphalia. 

 This map, on the scale of g^,th, has been prepared entirely by 

 M. V. Dechen, by order of the Prussian Government, and is a worthy 

 monument of his talent, his zeal, and his exertions. 



In alluding to Mr. Mylne's large MS. Map of the Geology of 

 London and its immediate ^dcinity, exhibited at Paris, it is impossible 

 to praise too highly the attention and care with which the materials 

 have been collected, and the artistic skill with which it has been 

 executed. It is to be hoped that Mr. Mylne will not long delay the 

 publication of it. 



Before concluding these observations, which, however imperfect 

 they may be, have nevertheless, I fear, greatly exceeded the usual 

 space allotted to these Addresses, I am desirous of saying a few 

 words on a subject closely connected with the highest considerations 



