592 J. E. MAEE OX THE PEEDEVONIAN 



cumstance, as tending to the better preservation of the exceptionally 

 rich fauna of the Bohemian basin. 



I would here thank those geologists from whom I have received 

 very valuable assistance ; and, first, let me state the immense benefits 

 I have received from M. Barrande, by his works, by his many personal 

 kindnesses to me, and, lastly, by the wonderful example of perseve- 

 rance, which is the astonishment of any one who has even cursorily 

 examined a slight portion of his stupendous work, in the field. I 

 have also to thank Dr. Novak, of Prague, and Herr Dusl, of Beroun, 

 for much aid in the field and museum. My acknowledgments are 

 also due to Profs. Hughes and Bonney for much kind assistance. 



§ 2. Desceiption oe the Steata. 



I. Precamhrian Rocks. 



On examining a geological map of Bohemia, it will be observed 

 that the well-known basin of M. Barrande lies with its axis in an 

 approximately E.N.E. and W.S.W. direction, and is bounded on 

 nearly all sides by a series of granites, gneisses, &c., referred to by 

 Murchison (' Siluria,' p. 372) as of Laurentian age. He remarks that 

 on them rest vast " masses of conglomerates, grits, and crystalline 

 schists, B, A ;" he further states that the latter are of Cambrian age. 

 It would have been impossible, in the short time I had at my disposal 

 for the examination of these gneissose rocks, to have detected any 

 order in them ; I therefore confine myself to a few notes on their 

 lithological character and general strike. 



The gneissose series is well exposed in the neighbourhood of Bud- 

 weis. Proceeding in a south-westerly direction, from Budweis to the 

 village of Chlumicek, soon after leaving the Brown-Coal formation 

 a section is seen in gneiss, by the roadside south of Kalist ; it dipped 

 north at a high angle, and was well foliated in places. Nearer Chlu- 

 micek the gneissose rock becomes interspersed with small garnets, 

 which seemed to have been produced owing to the contiguity of a 

 mass of intrusive eclogite. East of the village of Holobau, on the 

 road between Chlumicek and Krumau, a white foliated quartzose rock, 

 with many amber-coloured garnets, is seen, striking nearly E. and W., 

 and containing a dyke of black eclogite. At the eastern extremity 

 of Krumau a crystalline limestone is seen by the roadside ; it is 

 strongly foliated and contains silvery mica ; it dips in a northerly 

 direction, and underneath it occurs a gneiss having the same dip. 

 Between the two there is a band of graphite, but whether as a vein 

 or as a bed I could not ascertain. 



Lying between the gneissose series and a mass of conglomerates 

 &c., which form etage B of M. Barrande, and unconformable to 

 the latter, which I hope to show are of the age of the Harlech 

 group of Britain, occur the beds forming etage A, Barrande. I was 

 unable to find any section showing the relations between this group 

 and the gneissose series ; but that it belongs to a separate formation 

 seems clear from the following facts: — first, the two are totally 

 diff'erent in lithological characters ; secondly, whereas the earlier 



