26 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



On the Upper Sedimentary Deposits of the Venetian Ter- 

 ritory, and on the Fossil Bryozoa, Anthozoa, and Sponges 

 contained in them. By T. A. Catullo. 4to. 88 pages and 

 19 lithograph plates. Padua, 1856. 



[Dei Terreni di Sediraento superiore delle Venezie e dei fossili Bryozoari,Antozoari, 

 e Spongiari ai quali danno ricetto Memoria di Tomaso Antonio Catullo, &c.] 



This work, to which the author has devoted much time and research, 

 is almost entirely devoted to the description and illustration of 154 

 species of Bryozoans, Zoophytes, Sponges, &c. from the Tertiary 

 deposits of the Venetian portion of Italy. But, before entering on 

 the main object of the work, the author devotes a few pages to the 

 geology and geographical extent of these upper sedimentary forma- 

 tions, following the classification proposed by Sir C. Lyell, in pre- 

 ference to that advocated by M. U'Orbigny ; because, in his opinion, 

 the objection made to the per-centage of species does not invalidate 

 the stratigraphical distinctions laid down by Sir C. Lyell. 



The upper deposits at the foot of the Venetian Alps bear a very 

 close similitude to those analogous formations of Hungary and 

 Austria, composed of strata representing the Phocene, Miocene, and 

 Eocene epochs. The author obser¥es that Vicentine tertiaries are 

 also in every respect similar to those of the southern part of Russia ; 

 and that many years ago he discovered in fragments of nummulitic 

 rock brought from the neighbourhood of Cairo, Melania costellata, 

 Fusus intortus, Tarritella imbricataria, and other shells very common 

 in the Vicentine beds of that period. 



These Italian tertiary deposits well represent, according to the 

 author, LyelFs three divisions ; the most ancient (Eocene) being 

 composed of plastic clay, sandy glauconite, and nummulitic limestone, 

 accompanied by the usual marls ; the Miocene is represented by 

 marls and molasse ; the Pliocene consists of marls and sands ; which 

 last admit of a division into Lower and Upper Pliocene. The Eocene 

 series is more developed and more complicated than the others. In 

 a few localities it forms a continuous band, and from the Heights of 

 Frisuli and the Bellunese, it spreads out in the Feltrino, the Vicentino, 

 and other regions, not excepting the Euganean Hills, as the author 

 demonstrated by means of their fossils as early as 1828. The sea, 

 therefore, in which these deposits were formed was of considerable 

 extent. Signor Catullo then furnishes a detailed list of various loca- 

 lities where the nummulitic rock, which forms a large portion of the 

 Venetian state, is visible, and remarks that the same species are 

 everywhere found, except (as is the case in the other periods) where 

 some species are peculiar to one horizon or locality only. Thus the 

 Echinoderms are particularly abundant in the nummulitic rocks, 

 while the grey sandstone (molasse) is remarkably poor in those fossils, 

 although it contains innumerable spines, which may be perhaps 

 referable to some species of the genus Clypeaster 1 On the contrary, 

 the Eocene and the Miocene of the Vicentine are rich in Corals, of 

 which scarcely a trace can be found in the corresponding formations 

 of the Veronese, the Friulano, and the neighbourhood of Belluno. 



The author dwells at some length on the basaltic eruptions of the 

 Vicentine, to which the brecciated beds are attributable ; and he 



