Ixxxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Museum of Darmstadt holds high rank for its valuable collection of 

 fossil bones, a very large proportion of which have been collected by- 

 Prof. Kaup himself. The photographic illustrations are, I believe, 

 the first instance of the application of this process to such a pur- 

 pose, at least on such a scale as is here given ; the result is highly 

 satisfactory as far as correctness of delineation and general effect are 

 concerned, though it might be a question how far it would answer to 

 produce the necessary number of copies required for a large sale. 



From Italy we have also received interesting contributions to ter- 

 tiary geology, in a memoir describing the fossils of Monte Mario, near 

 Rome, collected by the Count de llayneval, M. Van den Hecke, and 

 Prof. Ponzi. The section of Monte Mario given by the authors con^ 

 sists in descending order of — 1. a bed of volcanic tufF, which forms 

 the capping of the hill ; 2. sands and concretions ; 3. fossiliferous 

 sand; 4. fine sand; 5. blue marl, probably Subapennine. The 

 beds dip slightly to the N.W. The authors insist on the care with 

 which they have confined their remarks exclusively to the fossils of 

 the sandy beds, excluding altogether those of the Subapennine marls, 

 which are the marls of the Vatican, and form the basis of the hill. 

 The great feature of the whole deposit is the preponderance of La- 

 mellibranchiate bivalves. The general arrangement is described as 

 follows : — The lowest bed contains Panopcea, Terebratula, and Cla- 

 vagella in its natural position. Above these is a compact zone of 

 Ostrea, Pecteriy &c. This is followed by a bed in which Pectimculus is 

 most abundant ("en quantite prodigieuse "). Above them, in a fine 

 sand, are Cardium, Tellina, Venus, Syndosmya, Lucina, with myriads 

 of Venus ovata, Mactra triangula, Leda minuta, Corbula striata, 

 with Lutraria and Area mytiloides in the upper portion. Above 

 these is another Oyster-bank (Ostreafoliosa), with a few species of 

 Pecten; after which all trace of organic remains disappears. The 

 authors then proceed to point out the relations which exist between 

 the ensemble of these fossil remains and the existing fauna of the Me- 

 diterranean, 210 species out of 270 collected being still found in the 

 neighbouring sea. However correct the conclusion may be to which 

 the authors have come, that the sea in which this fauna lived must 

 have been differently constituted from the present, some of the data 

 on which that conclusion is founded will require modification in their 

 future publication, inasmuch as they place Psammobia ferroensis, 

 Venus ovata, and others, amongst the shells which are rare in the 

 living state ; and in arguing on the absence of other forms, now abun- 

 dant in the Mediterranean, they overlook the fact that such forms as 

 Mitra, Columbella, Murex, Bucciniim, Purpura, &c., are generally 

 only found on rocks and a rocky coast, and do not abound on soft 

 and sandy bottoms. 



With regard to the age of this formation, the authors consider 

 it to be intermediate between the plutonic action which caused the 

 elevation of the Apennines, and the volcanic action which formed 

 the chain of volcanos of Italy and Sicily parallel to the axis of the 

 central chain. 



According to the section which they have published, these fossili- 



