204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 17, 



ascertained that the former are not a continuation of the lower fresh- 

 water deposits which I have already noticed at Kustenjeh, and as I 

 once supposed. 



I shall commence my remarks at the north end of the Dobrutcha 

 by simply referring to the existence of these older rocks at Isatchka, 

 Tultcha, and Besh Tepeh on the Danube ; and, although some ap- 

 pear to be metamorphic from volcanic agency, they are no doubt of 

 an early age ; perhaps either Devonian or Carboniferous. 



The only place where rocks of a similar age appear on the shores 

 of the Black Sea, in the Dobrutcha, is at Kara Irman, near Cape 

 Media. At this spot, which is near the south-west corner of the 

 Raselm Lagoon, and where the delta of the Danube commences, 

 there are dark shales of considerable thickness, and much resembling 

 the shales and schistose strata occurring on the flanks and base of 

 the Balkan, near Cape Emeneh. 



The section (fig. 1, p. 206) of the coast-cliff, from Kara Irman 

 towards Cape Media, is of much interest, from the contact of a lime- 

 stone of Secondary age with these older shales ; both being overlaid 

 by the superficial, reddish-brown, earthy marls of the Steppe, without 

 any intermediate group. 



The dark shales and schists, a, of fully 500 or 600 feet in thick- 

 ness, form a portion of the rocky shore at Kara Irman, at the angle 

 of the coast, where a ridge of the Steppe projects into the Black 

 Sea as a small promontory, and acts as a natural groyne to hold in 

 check the alluvial deposits of the Danube. At this point there was 

 formerly a scala, or landing-place, for communication with the vil- 

 lages of the neighbourhood, and the ancient town of Istia seems also 

 to have been near here. 



These dark shales dip to the northward, at an angle of 40°, the 

 strike being S. 83° W. ; and, although appearing along the coast for 

 about a quarter of a mile, they are nowhere more than 3 or 4 feet 

 above the sea, and are immediately overlaid by about 40 feet of the 

 soft, reddish-brown, earthy marls of the superficial series of de- 

 posits, e. I had no opportunity of examining them minutely in 

 search of fossils. 



The cliffs of white compact limestone, b v contain corals and 

 marine shells ; they are only from 16 to 20 feet high. The beds lie 

 nearly horizontally, and seem to have been originally deposited 

 against the older shales ; but they may have been thus brought in 

 contact by a fault. 



These limestones are shattered, and filled with small cavities, 

 especially where the fossils are most abundant. A Rhynchonella 

 seems to be the characteristic fossil. 



The second mass of limestone, 6 2 , is a coast-cliff about one mile 

 nearer Cape Media *; and the compact white limestone of which it is 



* The specimens from Cape Media, forwarded to the Society by the author, 

 consist of yellowish, cream-coloured, and grey limestones (hard and crystalline) 

 with Pectines, Terebr alulae, Rhynchonella, a univalve, and Corals. 



Some hard, yellowish, and grey limestones, sent by Capt. Spratt from Lake 

 Raselm, much resemble those of Cape Media, and contain remains of Ammonites 



\. 



