676 Chronicles of Science. [Oct., 



Dr. Waagen has just published a short but very able brochure 

 entitled, ' Versuch einer allgemeinen Classification der Schichten des 

 oberen Jura,' which reveals a very curious state of confusion in the 

 minds of geologists and palaeontologists as to the meaning and cor- 

 relation of the " Coral Eag " of England and the " Corallien " of the 

 Continent. The author took advantage of a visit to England to make 

 a detailed examination of the Upper Oolitic strata of our south coast, 

 in the neighbourhood of Weymouth ; and a comparison of their fossils 

 with those of their continental equivalents has resulted in his con- 

 viction of there being a strange delusion respecting the " Corallien " 

 prevailing amongst geologists. 



Our classification of these beds is, in descending order : — 

 (1) Purbeck beds, (2) Portland rock, (3) Portland sand, (4) Kim- 

 meridge Clay, (5) Upper Calcareous Grit, (6) Coral Eag or Oxford 

 Oolite, (7) Lower Calcareous Grit, (8) Oxford Clay, (9) Kelloway 

 rock. Dr. Waagen omits the Purbeck beds, and discusses the six 

 succeeding subdivisions, comparing them with their continental 

 equivalents, according to the following classification : — 



English Formations. Continental Equivalents. 



' 1. Portland Stone. } ™ cm- • nx. 



2. Portland Sand. Zone of Tr ^ oma &*"»*■ 



Solenhofen Platten-Kalk, or zone of 

 Orbieula latissima and Acanthoteuthis 

 8 p s speciosa. 



g0 3. Kimineridge Clay. ( Zone of Pterocera Oceani and Ammonites 



mutabilis. 

 Astarte-limestone and Zone of Ammonites 

 tenuilobatus. 



4. Upper Calcareous Grit. 1 Zone of Cidaris florigemma and Ammonites 



5. Oxford Oolite j bimammatus. 



^ ° \ _ T „„„_«„!„ _™,„ n -j. f Zone of Ammonites transversarius and 

 OO [ 6. Lower Calcareous Grit. { A . Martelli. 



Now the remarkable point is that, according to Dr. Waagen, the 

 " Corallien " of Cirin is on the horizon of the Portland beds, that of 

 Franconia corresponds with the upper division of the Kimmeridge 

 Clay, that of Nattheim (Swabia) with the middle, and that of La 

 Eochelle with the lower ; our own Coral Eag and the " Corallien " 

 of the Swiss geologists belong to the next group, and the " Corallien " 

 of Thurmann and Etallon is the equivalent of the Lower Calcareous 

 Grit. Our author characterizes this state of affairs as a " schone 

 Verwirrung," an expression which we may take to signify a 

 " magnificent muddle ! " 



Professor M'Coy has contributed a very interesting paper to the 

 August number of the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' 

 entitled " On the Occurrence of Limopsis Belcheri, Corbula sulcata, 

 and some other recent Shells in the fossil state in Miocene Tertiary 

 Beds, near Melbourne." The first-named species lives at the present 

 day off the Cape of Good Hope, and the few known specimens of it 

 were brought up alive from a prodigious depth by Admiral Beloher. 

 A second species of Limopsis (L. aurita), which has been dredged by 



