406 Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison on the 



made up of three horizontal deposits — the lowest composed of blue marl and 

 sand (Tegel), probably the same with the blue marls on the Pielach — the 

 middle deposit made up of yellow^ micaceous sand, with concretions of sand- 

 stone and bands of coarse grit — the highest consisting of light-coloured loam, 

 with shells of living species, and bones of some animals of extinct species. 

 The analogies of this group to the higher deposits of the Vienna basin are 

 too obvious to require notice. 



All these facts are in harmony with each other, and seem to prove une- 

 fiuivocally, that the last great movements of elevation, which dislocated and 

 contorted the newest formations of Switzerland and tlie Western Alps, and 

 extended their influence into Bavaria and Salzburg, produced little or no effect 

 on the position of tertiary groups near the eastern extremity of the chain. 



Before we terminate this chapter, we wish briefly to allude to the great 

 erratic boulders of the chain, apparently independent of all the regular forma- 

 tions above described, but, if we mistake not, confirming by their distribution 

 the conclusion at which we have just arrived. 



Every one is aware of the enormous masses of primary rock scattered on 

 the outskirts of some parts of the Swiss and Savoy Alps. Instances of this 

 kind occur also in a part of the chain described in this paper. One of the 

 most striking is seen in a narrow valley below Neukirchen*, where a block 

 of g-neiss, as large as a small house, is lying on the surface of the tertiary 

 strata. Similar blocks may be traced along the north flank of the Alps in many 

 other places, particularly between the Inn and the Tegern-see : of these, the 

 wefl-known " Grosse-stein" is perhaps the most gigantic. These phenomena 

 are not, however, confined to the glacis of the Alps : for we occasionally 

 find huge, irregular boulders, lodged in recesses and high gorges, midway 

 between the central axis and the outskirts of the chain. A very striking- ex- 

 ample of such a lodgment occurs to the east of Seefeld in the Tyrol ; where 

 many primary boulders of enormous size are surrounded by the bare, lofty 

 peaks of Alpine limestone. These erratic blocks, now in the centre of the 

 calcareous zone, and at the height of more than 5000 feet above the level of 

 the sea, must have come from the south, and must consequently have traversed 

 the space now occupied by the valley of the Inn, which is excavated to the 

 depth of 2000 feet below them. 



M. Elie de Beaumont has, we think, proved by most satisfactory details — that 

 the vast boulders of the Swiss and Savoy Alps were sent off by one of the last 



* Plate XXXVI. fiff. 7. 



