XIII. — Notices and Extracts from the Minute-Book of the Geological 



Society. 



1. A Notice on Fossil Plants found at the Col de Balme, near Chamouny in 

 Savoy.— By H. T. De la Beche, Esq. f.r.s. &c. [Read Nov. S, 1820.] 



XHE Col de Balme, which closes the valley of Chamouny to the north- 

 east, and separates Savoy from Switzerland, has long been known for the 

 superb view which it commands of the valley of Chamouny, with the Mont 

 Blanc range in one direction, and the mountains of the Valais in the other. 

 The iron cross on the highest part of the Col, or passage, is, according to 

 M. De Saussure, 7086 French feet {IbhS-^-^ English feet) above the level of 

 the sea. 



The Col is composed of beds of clay slate, of limestone, and of a few thin 

 beds of sandstone. The rocks of the Col de Balme have been called primi- 

 tive by M. Ebel, in his Bau der Erde in dem Alpen-Gebirge ; but were with 

 more justice named secondary by M. De Saussure*. The beds which com- 

 pose them seem to be a continuation of the limestones which are remarked in 

 patches in the valley of Chamouny ; and which probably once occupied the 

 whole length of the valley. 



While crossing the Col de Balme, in the autumn of 1819, I picked up two 

 portions of the thin beds of sandstone above mentioned, which I found to con- 

 tain vegetable impressions, precisely similar to what have been termed coal- 

 plants, because they are usually found in coal formations. But I tried in vain 

 to find these fossil plants in situ ; many parts of the Col being too precipitous 

 to allow of my approaching them. 



I was, however, fortunate enough, when at Chamouny again, in the spring 

 of 1820, to purchase two or three specimens of fossil plants, which had been 

 found at Col de Balme. One of these was remarkable, as the impressions of 



* Voyages dans les Alpes, Chap, xxii. 



