Structure of the Eastern Alps. 403 



Average thick, 

 ness in feet. 



3. b resh.water limestone — only in patches (as at the Eich-Kogel) containing 



LymnsBcE, Pianorbes, Helices, &c 140 



4. Great, white coral. limestone (jLt'27/i«-A7i//>:), containing large Pectens, Echini, 



&c. — also bones of the Tapir, Mastodon, Stag, and other Mammalia 150 



5. Coarse, calcareous conglomerate, breccia, and calc.grit, forming the base of 



the white coral-limestone of the Lcitha-Gebirge 200 



6. Superior blue marl (Tegel)^ with a profusion of fossils * 40 



7. Yellow sand, with calcareous grits, and many fossils, several of them unde- 



scribed — Cerithium pictutn, and two or three species of Ostrea abound in it. 120 



8. Inferior blue marl {Tcgel) — only known by borings, and some partial exca- 



vations ; fossils, therefore, little known 300 



9. White sands, &c., reached only by boring — thickness therefore entirely un- 



known. _____ 



Total 1080 feet. 



In explanation of this tabular view of M. Partsch^ we venture to suggest 

 that Nos. 9. and 8. are on a parallel with the lower tertiary groups of Styria, 

 — that they are, therefore, of an older date than has been generally assigned 

 to any of the tertiary deposits in the Vienna basin — and that they are probably 

 on the parallel of some of the groups of the London and Paris basins. 



The preceding supposition is not invalidated by the fact, that the fossils 

 of the yellow sand and superior blue marl (Nos. 6. and 7.), present several ana- 

 logies to the shells of the Bordeaux basin, and of certain strata in the Sub- 

 Apennine regions f. 



It is important to remark, that the g-reat coral limestone (No. 4.) is unequi- 

 vocally superior to the whole system of marls and sands ; as it was at one time, 

 from its mineral structure, confounded with the calcaire grossier of Paris. It was 



* Most of the organic remains, cited in the instructive memoir of M. Constant Prevos(, on a 

 portion of the Vienna basin (^Journal de Fhyslqiie, tome 91.), wert, we believe, from beds on 

 the parallel of this and the preceding group. 



t A collection of fossils from Hirtemberg, in the Vienna basin, which one of the authors owes 

 to the kindness of M. Constant Prevost, has been compared by Mr. J. Sowerby with the fossils 

 of Lower Styria and of some other tertiary deposits, and gives the following results : — 



1. None of the Hirtemberg shells are identical with the species found at Kreitzpetter in the 

 lower group of the Styrian basin {supra, p. 388.) 



2. Considered as a group, they differ much from the fossils of the London-clay ; although two 

 species resemble Cancellariu cvulsa (Min. Con.) and Fusus complanatus (Min. Con.) — both of 

 the London-clay. 



These results might have been anticipated, because the Vienna fossils are derived from beds 

 which are above the parallel of the lowest tertiary group of Styria. 



3. Several of the Hirtemberg fossils seem to be identical with species in the Bordeaux basin and 

 the English crag. For example: Venericardia Jouanneti (Bast.); Area Diluvii (Lam.); 



3f2 



