8 ©BOLOOICAL MEMOIRS. 



It may be remarked that Sigillaria and Calamites are C(5mpletely 

 absent, and that ferns are by far predominant. This is the reason 

 why Prof. Geinitz ranks the coal-beds of Oglossan and Eossitz 

 among his " fifth or newest " zone of Carboniferous deposits ; and, in 

 fact, the Eossitz strata are immediately and conformably overlain by 

 those of the ;N"ew Eed Sandstone. [Count M.] 



On Fossil Cokaxs. By Prof. Eetjss. 



[Proceed. Imp. Acad. Vienna, July 18, 1867.] 



Remains of corals are contained in three of the subdivisions of the 

 older Tertiaries of the south-eastern Alps, established by Prof. E. 

 Suess, but most abundantly in the more recent of them, the strata 

 of Gastelgomberto, where eighty-two species are found, of which 

 sixteen only are known to occur in other localities. Their imperfect 

 state of preservation has proved an insurmountable obstacle to the 

 determination of a large number of these remains. The sixteen 

 previously known species have been found also in the calcareous 

 Nummulitic marls of Oberburg (Styria). Some of the forms from 

 the latter locality have not been noticed in the Gastelgomberto strata, 

 — a fact which may probably indicate that they belong to a somewhat 

 lower horizon. As a whole, the strata of Gastelgomberto are un- 

 doubtedly referable to the same geological horizon as those of Ober- 

 burg, and the lower marine sands of Weinheim, in the llayence 

 basin. Their coral-fauna, however, is totally different (a necessary 

 consequence of their different modes of deposition) — the strata of the 

 Yicentin being the remains of gigantic coral-reefs, while the sands 

 of the Mayence basin supported only a few small solitary corals. 

 Another locality in the same horizon is Gaas, in the south of Prance, 

 whose coral- fauna requires further elucidation. Several of the Gaas 

 species are identical with those of Gastelgomberto ; and it is probable 

 iiiat deposits of the same age may be found overlying the older Ter- 

 tiaries of the Hala mountains in Eastern India. Eepeated exami- 

 nations of the badly preserved coral-remains from Waschberg (about 

 five Austrian nules jS'.X.E. of Vienna) have enabled the author to 

 determine the specific identity of some of them with those of Gastel- 

 gomberto. [Count M,] 



