132 me. h. kynaston on the [May 1 8 94, 



omit any mention of the estuarine beds with coal at the Neue Alp, 

 while Zittel makes them constitute a separate division. 



Sedgwick and Murchison completely mistook the position of the 

 lower Hippurite-limestone, regarding it as resting immediately 

 against the Triassic limestones, and belonging altogether to an older 

 series of Secondary deposits, but not to the Gosau Beds at all, 

 although they recognized two species of Hippurites in their lower 

 fossiliferous series (No. 2). Zittel, on the other hand, takes the correct 

 view of the position of the two Hippurite-liruestones,but hardly seems 

 to give due importance to the sandstone- and-sandy shale series, so 

 well developed on the Eessenberg, and he seems rather to confuse it 

 with the succeeding group of red and grey marls. It seems to me 

 that quite as much prominence should be given to each of these 

 two systems as to that of the fossiliferous marls, although, of course, 

 the latter are more important from a palaeontological point of view. 



Sedgwick and Murchison split up the fossiliferous marls into two 

 portions on palEeontological grounds (op. jam cit. p. 357). There is 

 certainly, however, no strati graphical line of demarcation in the 

 series ; nor do subsequent investigations seem to have confirmed 

 the existence of so much distinction, paleeontologically, between the 

 upper and lower portions as those authors considered they had 

 giounds for establishing. Hence, it would seem more convenient 

 to retain the fossiliferous marly beds in one group. 



Bearing in mind these considerations, and also the results of my 

 own observations, I have adopted the following classification of the 

 Gosau Beds of the Gosauthal and the Bussbachthal. For the sake 

 of convenience we may divide them into a lower group, which is 

 extremely fossiliferous, and an upper group, which is almost entirely 

 devoid of organic remains. 



The beds are arranged in ascending order : — 



{ a. Coarse conglomerate, sometimes alternating with grits, 



sandstones, and marls (Ferbergraben, etc.). 



(\.\ b. Limestone with Hipp, cornu-vaccinum (Traunwand, etc.). 



y \ c. Do. Actaonella conica, etc. (Traunwand, etc.). 



r, „ ■{ I d. Do. Nerincea (Traunwand, Neue Alp). 



Gosau Ueds. -o i en at ., ' lJ 



| 1. Estuarine series of tbe JNeue Alp. 



^3. Bluish-grey marls, with some limestone; -very fossiliferous. 

 Hippurites organisans, reef-building corals, Troehosmilia, 

 Cy otolites, Fanopcea, Cypricardia, Janira, Cardium, 

 Cucull&a, Crassatella, etc. Ampullina bidbiformis, 

 Gerithium, Aporrhais, Fusus, Nerin<ea, etc. 

 f 4. Grey sandstones and flags, with some sandy shales, with 

 -rj j obscure plant-remains, worm-tracks, and ripple-marks. 



n „ , -d „ { Well seen on the sides of the Eessenberg and below the 



Gosau Blds.j Bibereck Alp. B 



(5. Grey, red, and variegated sandy marls, here and there, 

 especially towards the upper part, alternating with 

 sandstones, grits, and conglomerates. Well seen on the 

 sides of the Hornspitze, Hennarkogl, and Zwiesel Alp. 



Comparing the Gosau Beds of the Gosauthal and the Eussbachthal 

 with those of other localities in the Eastern Alps, it will be seen that 

 some of the beds are variable or merely of local importance, while 



