1867.] Geology and Paleontology. 411 



generally accepted principles of Tertiary classification, it will be im- 

 possible to come to any agreement on the subject of the German 

 Oligocene, which we have already discussed in this Chronicle on 

 several occasions.* 



In the last volume (vol. xix.) of the ' Memoires de la Societe de 

 Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve/ MM. de Loriol and 

 Pellat have published an elaborate essay, entitled "Monographie 

 paleontologique et geologique de letage portlandien des environs de 

 Boulogne-sur-Mer," in which is given a complete history of the events 

 which, according to the views of the authors, took place during the 

 deposition of the Portland Oolite. It is especially worthy of remark 

 that they regard the " Portlandien inferieur" of the eastern districts 

 as synchronous with the Lower and Middle Portlandien of the 

 Boulonnais ; that is to say, that a Lower Portland fauna continued 

 to live in the eastern regions after the fauna of the Portland stone 

 of England, and its equivalents in the Boulonnais and the Pays de 

 Bray, had supplanted it in the west. 



In the ' Bulletin de la Societe geologique de France' (vol. xxiv. 

 No. 2) M. Thomas records the discovery of a lower jaw of Bhinoceros 

 in the Upper Eocene of Tarn, near Gaillac. The author states that 

 this genus has not hitherto been found in beds more ancient than 

 the Miocene ; and he demonstrates the greater antiquity of those in 

 question, by showing their connection with the deposits of the basin 

 of the Agout, where M. Noulet has discovered remains of Lophiodon 

 Lautricense, Palseotherium magnum, Palojiloilierium minus, and 

 P. annectens. He regards this Eocene species as being very nearly 

 allied to, if not identical with, the Bhinoceros minutus of Cuvier. 

 It may be useful to remark that remains of 'Rhinoceros had pre- 

 viously been obtained from Eocene deposits in more than one 

 locality in France, although M. Thomas seems to have been una- 

 ware of the fact. 



The Geological Commission of Portugal has recently published 

 two important volumes. Of one, entitled 'Descripcao do solo 

 Quaternario das Bacias Hydrographicas do Tejo e Sado,' by M. Carlos 

 Bibeiro, we can only say that it is a very exhaustive treatise on the 

 various Quaternary deposits of the valleys of the Tagus and the 

 Sado, some of which have yielded remains of human industry. The 

 other is, so far as we know, the first palaeontological work of import- 

 ance ever published in Portugal, and is entitled ' Gasteropodes dos 

 depositos Terciarios de Portugal,' by M. Pereira da Costa. As the 

 descriptions of the other fossils are to be published afterwards, the 

 author reserves his conclusions until the completion of the work ; 

 but it is noteworthy, that he finds it necessary to preface this part 

 with an introduction describing the objects of Palaeontology, and the 

 course he has adopted in his descriptions of the fossils. Both works 



* Quart. Journ. Science, No. iii., p. 480 ; No. ix M p. 100 ; No. x., p. 279. 



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