I860.] 



SPRATT BESSARABIA, ETC. 



285 



I must apologize for commencing my remarks with such specula- 

 tions ; but, as the contemporary freshwater deposits of other localities 

 have been made familiar to the Society by my recent papers, I am 

 induced to keep these ideas prominent whilst the South Kussian 

 deposits are being noticed. 



As the shores of the Yalpuk Lake present the best sections for 

 the study of the Steppe-deposits, I shall here give two or three 

 sections from its cliffs and banks ; first mentioning, however, that, as 

 the Steppe-deposits have a very gradual incline from north to south, 

 it is only towards the head of this and the other lakes, and at 

 distances of from fifteen to twenty miles from the Danube, that the 

 lower group of freshwater deposits (No. 1 of the series) appears 

 visible above the level of the lake. The extremity of the Steppe at 

 the southern part of these lakes is composed of the upper and newer 

 groups of loose marls, in which there is a change of character and 

 less evidence of stratification. 



The following section (fig. 1) was taken on the west side of the 

 Yalpuk Lake, two or three miles below Bolgrod ; it shows about 

 100 feet of the lower group of freshwater strata, No. 1. 



Fig. 1. — Section of the Steppe Deposits near Bolgrod. 



d. 40 feet of yellow, brown, and grey sands and sandy mails, 

 closely interstratified with detached bands or slabs of indurated 

 sandstone. The whole contains casts of freshwater .shells, and 

 M'lcnitc. 



c. 8 feet of marly sandstone, containing freshwater shells. 



b. 1 to 2 feet of black peaty marl, overlaid by a band of marl, 

 about 1 foot thick, with numerous freshwater shells. 



a. 40 to 50 feet of sands and marls, containing beds with the 

 same freshwater shells ; and with two sjiecies of the striated 



bivalves (small Oardium) scattered through the whole group: 

 but the Hattish bivalve is the most numerous*. 



* The specimen- "f i~- * — i 1 -liells will l>y Capt Sur.itt from thil locality luivf 



