4 GEOLOaiCAL MEMOIRS. 



preserved Multicellular Algae, in some of which he could even detect 

 the lateral extmsion of zoospores. In the melaphyre of Zwickau 

 these Algae are coloured green by Delessite, and produce exactly the 

 impression of living plants. One species, found in abundance in 

 the milky quartz of the melaphyre of Zwickau, possesses bristle- 

 like terminal cells, which might easily be mistaken for the spi- 

 cules of Sjpongilla. The same quartz contains layers of algal 

 cells, which are remarkably intersected by straight spaces, look- 

 ing as if they had been sawn out. As the individual cells were 

 often cut through, the author supposed that these spaces were the 

 work of some animal ; and he at last succeeded in finding an Infu- 

 sorian with its extended proboscis applied to a place which had 

 already been attacked. To this Infusorian he gives the name of 

 Rhynchopristes melajpliyH. With these occurred a great quantity 

 of Rotatoria, which he refers to the neighboiirhood of Schrank's 

 genus Limnias, but places in a new genus, Trikolos, to be cha- 

 racterized in a larger work. Of this he distinguishes two species, 

 T. melaphyri and T. thuringice. 



From bis observations the author infers, not that the so-called 

 " eruptive rocks " are really sedimentary in their nature, but that 

 these microscopic organisms actually live in the moisture perme- 

 ating these eruptive rock-masses, and that they become imbedded 

 and fossilized in a medium produced by the weathering of the 

 rocks and infiltration of water, — ^in other words, that the primordial 

 condition of the rock-masses in question has been subjected, and 

 is still subject, to a process of metamorphism in the humid way. 



[W. S. D.] 



On the Plysch of the Northern Margin of the Calcareous Alps be- 

 tween the Lakes of Tratjn and Laudach (Upper Austria). By 

 Dr. E. MoTsisovics and Dr. "W. SchlcenbacHc 



[Proceed. Imp. Geol. Instit. Vienna, June 30, 1868.] 



The succession of deposits along a north and south Hue from the 

 river Traun to Traunstein is as follows : — (1) moraines, (2) terraces 

 of glacial drift, (3) Flyseh, (4) Eocene green sandstones, (5) Upper 

 Cretaceous marls, (6) conglomerates, (7) Liassic sandstones, and (8) 

 ancient limestones and dolomites of the Traunstein. The valley 

 called Gschliefgraben is evidently the result of the action of water 

 on the soft and easily decomposable shaly Cretaceous marls, which 

 are of a light-grey or rarely reddish tint, and alternate frequently 

 with more compact layers. These marls are very similar in petro- 

 logical character to Strombeck's N^orth-German Upper Planer. The 

 lower portions abound in Inocerami, Bacidites, Hamites, Scaphites, 

 and Ammonites ; while Echinoderms, such as Ananchytes, Micraster, 

 Holaster, <fec., prevail in the upper parts. The facies is Upper Cre- 

 taceous (Planer of Giimbel), quite distinct from that of the true 

 Gosau strata, and bears a close resemblance to the South- Alpine 

 " Scaglia," or to the West- Alpine " Sewer-strata." The fauna is 

 probably a compound of those of several palaeontological horizons. 



