ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxi 



ocean which, during a portion of the Tertiary period, covered a con- 

 siderable portion of Middle and Southern Europe from east to west. 

 Dr. Homes confirms the statement of Prof. Neugeboren respecting 

 the remarkable ahundance of fossils in the tertiary beds of Lapugy, 

 where some of the shells still retain traces of colour. In another 

 report he mentions that the Vienna basin has now produced 1300 

 species of animal remains, of which COO are mollusca. He has also 

 stated, that on comparing a collection of sixty-five species of ter- 

 tiary fossils from Girgenti in Sicily, no less than forty-five are 

 identical with those of Vienna. 



On this subject I will only further add, in reference to the remark 

 of Prof. Homes respecting the former extent of the Miocene-Plio- 

 cene ocean, that Prof. Bianconi of Bologna, in his Latin essay 

 " De Mari olim occupante planities et colles Italise, Grsccia3, xlsise 

 Minoris, &c., et de ^tate terreni quod geologi appellant ' Marnes 

 bleues,' " has some interesting details on the subject ; and for this 

 reason, although not exactly relating to the progress of geology 

 during the past year, I venture briefly to allude to it on this occasion. 

 After describing the extent of the marine tertiaries of Italy, and along 

 the shores of Greece and of the Archipelago, in which he observes, 

 that the usual characteristics of the formation are blue clays beneath, 

 overlaid by yellow sands, the latter abundantly rich in fossils, chiefly 

 the equivalents of those now living in the neighbouring sea, he pro- 

 ceeds to describe the valley of the I)anube, and shows, that as Vienna 

 is only 480 feet above the level of the sea, a very slight depression 

 (less indeed than that required in many parts of Italy) would bring 

 the whole valley of the Danube in connexion with the Mediterranean 

 waters, thus forming a vast bay in the ancient Pliocenic ocean. He 

 then shows, chiefly on the authority of A. Boue, that this vast Plio- 

 cene sea extended over Gallicia, Podolia, Bukowina, and even over 

 parts of Southern Russia, where it is now covered by a younger 

 formation, through the Crimea and to the very confines of the Cas- 

 pian Sea, referring to the works of De Verneuil on the geology of the 

 Crimea, published in the ' Memoires de la Societe Geol. de France,' 

 t.iii. 1 ser. 1838, p. 12. 



But I must not pursue this subject any further. The further ex- 

 amination of these Miocene formations throughout the North of 

 Germany may perhaps enable us to have a better idea of the former 

 limits of the Miocene sea, and of the connexion between difl'erent 

 portions of it, than was entertained by those who looked only to the 

 Bosphorus as the means of communication between the Mediterra- 

 nean and the Daiiubian Miocene-Pliocene deposits. Every year now 

 adds rapidly to our knowledge, and I trust we may look forward to 

 more complete details from the efforts and zealous cooperation of the 

 geologists of Germany at no very distant period. 



Prof. Kaup of Darmstadt has taken advantage of the recent dis- 

 coveries of photography to illustrate his last publication on the Fossil 

 Mammalia. The organic remains thus illustrated are those of 

 several species of Rhinoceros, a family to which Prof. Kaup has 

 for many years devoted his attention. It is well known that the 



