22 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



and soda is predominant in them, exactly as in the eruptive rocks of 

 Santorino. The more basic among them are closely related to some 

 Icelandic lavas. [Count M.] 



On Haltaistassa. Colltnii, IT. v. Meyer. By Chevaliee, F. von 

 Hauer and Professor E. Suess. 

 [Proceed. Imp. Greol. Inst. Yienna, April 6, 1867.] 

 A NEARLY complete skeleton (head excepted) of this Tertiary Ceta- 

 cean has been lately found in a quarry near Hainburg, on the 

 Danube, east of Vienna and close to the Hungarian frontier. The 

 whole length of the preserved portion of this skeleton is 7| feet ; it 

 lies with the back upwards, and the normal arrangement and con- 

 nexion of its parts has suffered but little disturbance. The ver- 

 tebral column shows 18 vertebrse with the ribs attached, the ribs 

 of the left side having generally retained their normal situation, while 

 those of the right are more or less deranged and broken. There 

 are 23 vertebrse in situ ; and all of them, not excepting even the 

 hindmost, possess rather distinct transverse processes. The point of 

 connexion of the pelvic rudiment is not discernible. The left sca- 

 pula is perfectly preserved, and the cervical vertebree probably lie 

 concealed beneath it; a certain number of them may also have 

 been dislocated, as indications of them have been found near the 

 caudal portion of the skeleton. One vertebra, and a cervical rib of 

 uncommon breadth, with its terminal portion well preserved, ap- 

 pears beneath the scapula. The anterior extremities have re- 

 mained in their normal situation and connexion, the whole of the 

 cubitus and radius and one-half of the ulna being well preserved. 

 Some metacarpal bones have been found scattered about. One-half 

 of the rudiment of the pelvis is perfectly preserved, showing the iliac 

 and the ischian portions distinctly separated from each other, and 

 between them a rudimentary articular cavity. The head is entirely 

 wanting ; but portions of it and of a well-preserved lower jaw were 

 found some years ago in the Tertiary sands of Linz (Upper Austria). 

 The crystalline limestones of the hills near Hainburg are surrounded 

 everywhere by marine Neogene deposits, overlain by a stratum of 

 gravel of more recent date than the diluvial loam, locally varying in 

 thickness from a few inches to from 6 to 12 feet. These circum- 

 stances indicate that, during the Tertiary period, the coast of the 

 south-west termination of a long and narrow isthmus, projecting 

 from the Little Carpathians, was surrounded by a number of insular 

 limestone-reefs. The remains in question have been found close to 

 one of these reefs, in the sandy shore of the former Tertiary sea, 

 near the northern end of the cliffs of the present Hundsheim Hill. 

 The lowermost strata in this locality are calcareous sands, several 

 feet thick, alternating with sandstones with calcareous cement from 

 4 to 6 feet thick ; they are overlain by an alternation of similar 

 sands with conglomerates like sandstones, and above these is a cliff 

 of coarse and compact quartzose conglomerate with calcareo- argilla- 

 ceous cement. These strata, having a dip of about 10°, lie uncon- 



