Vol. 50.] GOSAU BEDS OF THE GOSATJ DISTRICT. 133 



others are constant. Certainly some are of rather variable occur- 

 rence in one and the same area ; thus both the Actceonetta- and 

 iYmWa-limestones are absent in the Nefgraben. Hippurite-lime- 

 stones, of which in different localities there may be one, two, or 

 three, are very poorly developed in the Gosauthal compared with 

 their development in the Bussbachthal, while the Estuarine Beds 

 are altogether absent in the Gosau Valley. 



At Neue Welt, near "Wiener Neustadt, a locality which has been 

 described by Zittel and others, 1 we find a Hippurite-limestone be- 

 tween the Actceondla- and Nerincm -limestones. The Estuarine series 

 is much better developed here than at the jSeue Alp ; it contains work- 

 able coal-seams, with numerous plant-remains, freshwater shells, and 

 marine fossils in isolated beds, such as Omphalic/,, Astarte, Circe, 

 Turbo, etc., and reptilian remains, which latter have been described 

 by Bunzel and Seeley. Above the Estuarine series comes lime- 

 stone with Actceonella and other gasteropoda. The fossiliferous 

 marls are probably better developed at Gosau. Above this series 

 we see at Neue Welt what Zittel calls ' ? Orbitulitensandstein,' 

 but with regard to this horizon Suess remarks, " in some places rose- 

 coloured limestone-beds with Orbitoides and the remains of a small 

 decapod are seen, which seem to succeed directly this zone " (i. e. 

 the fossiliferous marls). 2 There are certainly no beds with Orbitulites 

 at Gosau. The next highest beds are the Inoceramus-msirh, the 

 exact position of which in the series at Gosau is uncertain. They 

 may correspond to the upper portion of the fossiliferous marls, 

 where Inoceramus Cripsi is so common (namely, in the Hofergraben), 

 or possibly to some portion of the unfossiliferous group. The 

 former seems more likely to be the case. 



la the Gamsthal, near Hiefiau, in Styria, described by Peters 3 

 and Redtenbacher, 4 there is no Hippurite-limestone with H. 

 eornu-vaccinum seen immediately above the basement conglomerate. 

 Possibly, however, it is present here, but is not exposed. Above 

 the conglomerate, we find here VmWa-limestone, followed by 

 freshwater beds with coal ; then sandstones come on, followed by 

 ActcponeUa-limestone and Hippurite-limestone ; then sandstones 

 passing into massive fossiliferous marls, on the same horizon as the 

 fossiliferous marls of Gosau ; and finally Orbitulite-beds, corre- 

 sponding with those of Xeue Welt. 



In the Zlam Valley, near Aussee, the basement-conglomerate 

 system is very thick, and is followed by a series of marls, with some 

 limestones. This locality is described by Sedgwick and Murchison 3 

 and Peters. 6 



1 Zittel, Denkschrift. d. kaiserl. Akad. Wissensch. Wien, vol. xxv. (1866) 

 pt. ii. pp. 160 et seqq. 



2 Note to Seeley's paper 'On the Reptile Fauna of the Gosau Beds,' Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxvii. (1881) p. 703. 



3 Abhandl. d. k. k. geol. Reichsaust. vol. i. (1852) pt. i. 



4 Jahrb. d. k. k. geol. Reichsanst. vol. xxiv. (1874) pt. i. pp. 1-6. 

 B Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. iii. pt. ii. (1832) p. 362. 



8 Op. supra cit. 



