ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IXXXui 



ferous sands overlie conformably the blue Subapennine marls, but it 

 may still be doubted whether they belong absolutely to the same for- 

 mation. They appear to correspond, to a remarkable degree, with 

 a formation which I have described in an account of the geology of 

 some parts of Tuscany *, where it forms the capping of the hill on 

 which the town of Volterra is built, and has received from Savi 

 the name of Panchina ; the only difference being that some of the 

 Panchina beds have a more calcareous composition, which, however, 

 is only local, and I have also described these calcareous beds as 

 alternating with others of an arenaceous character. Bivalves also 

 greatly preponderate in the Panchina, particularly Ostrea and Pecten ; 

 I also found the upper bed of shelly limestone equally full of Cardium^ 

 Pecten^ and Ostrea, but in a comminuted state. I think it would be 

 desirable, that the authors, in publishing a more detailed account of 

 the fossils which they promise for this year, should revise their list of 

 extinct species, for I find amongst them several which are given by 

 different authorities as still living ; amongst these I may mention 

 Syndosmya Renieri, a living Sicilian species. Tapes vit'ginea, Ostrea 

 edulis, Nassa musiva, N. semistriata, and Dentalium coarctatum. 



In the ' Giornale dell' I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere 

 ed Arti' for 1854, is an interesting account of the fossil flora of Sini- 

 gaglia, by Prof. Massalongo of Verona. The formation is described 

 as Miocene ; the general geological features of the country are Sub- 

 apennine. I will only observe, that the memoir is illustrated by four 

 plates, of vegetable remains, executed in coloured lithography with a 

 degree of perfection and effect which is beyond all praise. The same 

 journal also contains an account of the P achy pleura Edwardsii, Cor., 

 a new species of Acrodont Saurian from the triassic strata of Lom- 

 bardy, by Emilio Cornalia. Parts of several individuals of this species 

 have been found, chiefly in the schists of Besano. The work is 

 accompanied by two illustrations, showing the broken fragments of 

 the organic remains as found, together with a representation of the 

 animal restored. 



The observations by M. de Verneuil and M. de Loriere on the 

 geology and physical geography of Spain (Bull. Fr. p. 661) form an 

 important contribution to our knowledge of a country of which so little 

 on these points is known. They record above 400 barometrical and 

 thermometrical observations, and establish generally the altitude of 

 the extensive table-lands and mOuntain-chains which constitute so 

 large a portion of that country. 



Asia. 



M. Pierre de Tchihatcheff has published in the 'Bulletin de la 

 Societe Geologique de France' some interesting additions to our 

 knowledge of the geology of Asia Minor. His memoir embraces 

 three subjects : — 1st. The tertiary deposits of a portion of Cilicia 

 Trachsea, Cilicia Campestris, and Cappadocia. 2nd. The tertiary 

 deposits of the south of Caria and of a portion of the north of Pisidia. 



* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 278. 



