BOLLE LIGNITE OF SCnONSTEIN. 39 



intercalated between the Planer and Quader, and also beneath the 

 second of these deposits. 



The whole Cretaceous deposits are fossiliferous, though not richly 

 so. The only vegetable remains known to occur in them is Arau- 

 caria acutifolia, Corda, in one isolated Planer locality. The animal 

 forms of the Quader are Prococardia Miliaria, Sow., Pinna decnssata, 

 Goldf., and Turrilites. Those of the Planer are Inoceramusmytiloides, 

 Hantell, In. Grispii, Mant., Ammonites peramplus, Sow., Am. Rotho- 

 magensis, Defr., Pecten, and Cardium. The Planer-Mergel on the 

 north-west slope of the basaltic hill of Slana offer quite a different 

 aspect, being characterized by the occurrence of teeth of Squalidce, 

 Bucidites, Ammonites (related to Am. varians and Am. infiatus, Sow.), 

 Nucula, Area, Pecten, and Gasteropoda. 



The highest horizon of the Cretaceous deposits N.'W. of Prague is 

 1669 feet above the sea-level. These deposits may be supposed to 

 have originally occupied a continuous surface : at present they are 

 separated into long-extended ridges and isolated plateaux by valleys 

 of erosion and ravines, cutting through them and exposing to view 

 the underlying red sandstone and Carboniferous strata. [Count M.] 



On some Ligitcte of Schonstein, Sttpja. By Dr. Eolle. 

 [Proceed. Imp. Acad. Vienna, February 3, I860.] 



The geological and palaeontological characters of this small ligni- 

 tiferous basin are those of a secluded lacustrine deposit. The chief 

 materials which have undergone the process of lignitization are, ac- 

 cording to Prof. Unger's determination, stem-fragments of Pence 

 acerosa, frequent also in other lignitiferous beds of Styria. Two 

 others of the fossil species from Schonstein agree with those from the 

 Swiss Molasse ; whilst two others are undescribed, and not as yet 

 met with in any other locality. 



The Molluscan remains seem to indicate a less remote geological 

 age than may be inferred from the consideration of the plant-remains 

 alone. Undescribed species of Bithynia, Hydrobia, and Vulva ta, not 

 known to occur in any other locality, are the prevailing forms. Some 

 few individuals of other species, still living and partly known in the 

 post-tertiary period, may be obtained by washing the fossiliferous 

 marls. None of the Schonstein species arc found among the now 

 well-explored molluscan fauna of the Vienna Basin. 



From all this Dr. Polle infers that the lignitiferous beds of Schon- 

 stein correspond to a certain group of strata, pala:ontologically ascer- 

 tainable only at very few localities, which have been considered 

 either uppermost tertiary or lowermost diluvial, and the most ancient 

 known type of which is represented by the ossiferous strata of the 

 Arno Valley in Tuscany. [Count M.] 



