Mediterranean or Marine Stage. 

Part IV. Scr. iii. § 2.] MIOCENE. 
Sarmatian or Cerithium Stage.—Sandstones passing into sandy lime- 
stones and clays, or “Tegel” (the local name for a calcareous clay). 
According to Fuchs the following subdivisions occur around Vienna: 
Upper Sarmatian Tegel, or Muscheltegel—distinguishable from the Hernals 
Tegel below by an abundance of shells (Tapes gregaria, Ervilia, Cardium, 
&c.), 295 feet. 
Cerithium-sand—a yellow, abundantly shell-bearing, quartz-sand —the 
main source of water-supply at Vienna, where it is sometimes nearly 500 
feet thick. 
Hernals Tegel—sand and gravel, with Cerithium, Rissoa, Paludina, remains 
of turtles, fish, and land plants. 
The Sarmatian stage is characterized by the prodigious number of indi- 
viduals of a comparatively small number of species of shells, of which some 
of the most characteristic forms are Tapes gregaria (Fig. 412), Mactra 
podolica, Ervilia podolica, Cerithium pictum, C. rubiginosum, Buccitnum 
baccatum, Trochus podolicus, Murex sublevatus. The general character of 
the fauna is that of a temperate climate, and is strongly contrasted with 
that of the Mediterranean stage in the absence of the affinities. with tropical 
or sub-tropical forms, and even with those of the present Mediterranean, 
and on the other hand in some curious analogies with the living fauna of 
the Black Sea. Corals, echinoderms, bryozoa, foraminifera are absent or 
yery rare, and the suggestion has been made that the change of the earlier 
Mediterranean fauna into that of the Sarmatian stage points to a gradual 
diminution of the salinity of the waters of the Vienna basin, as has happened 
with the existing Black Sea. The terrestrial flora is characterized by some 
plants that survived from the earlier or Mediterranean stage; but palms 
-are entirely absent, and the American element in the flora is no longer sur- 
passed by the preponderance of Asiatic types. 
A group of strata varying greatly 
from place to place in petrographical characters, with corresponding differ- 
ences in fossil contents. Among the more important types of rock the 
following may be named. 
Leithakalk, a limestone often entirely composed of organisms, and espe- 
cially of reef-building corals, also bryozoa, foraminifera, echini (large cly- 
peasters, &c.), large oysters (Pecten latissimus is specially characteristic), 
bones of mammals, and sharks’ teeth. The Leithakalk passes frequently 
into sandy and marly beds, and into massive conglomeratic deposits (Leitha- 
kalk-schotter or conglomerate). 
Tegel of Baden—fine blue clay, richly charged with shells, especially 
gasteropods (Plewrotoma, Cancellaria, Fusus, &c.) and foraminifera. 
Marl of Gainfahren, Grinzing, Nussdorf, &c.—more calcareous than the 
Baden Tegel. 
Sand of Potzleinsdorf—a fine loose sand with Tellina, Psammobia, and 
many other lamellibranchs. 
Sandstone of Sievering with many lamellibranchs, especially pectens and 
oysters. 

These various strata are believed to represent different conditions of 
deposit in the area of the Vienna basin during the time of the Mediterranean 
stage. With them are grouped certain fresh-water beds (brown-coals, &c.), 
found along the margin of the basin, which are supposed to mark some of the 
terrestrial accumulations of the period. 
The characteristically marine fauna of this stage is abundant and varied. 
It presents as a whole a more tropical character than that of the Sarmatian 
stage above. Some of its molluscan genera are now restricted to the warmer 
seas of the globe. The flora with its various kinds of palms had also a 
tropical aspect. 
Upper fresh-water Molasse and brown-coal (Oeningen stage), consisting of 
sandstones, marls, and limestones, with a few lignite-seams ar ee 
K 
867 
Switzerland.—Immediately succeeding the strata described on 
p- 860, as referable to the Oligocene series, come the following groups in 
descending order : 
