300 
2. The underlying group, the Lower Carboniferous, is characterised 
by— 1. The great Myalina beds. 2. The relative abundance of 
Cyclopteris ; the Sphenopteris being the specially characteristic plant 
of the upper group. 3. The circumstance that the carboniferous 
fauna occurs only in an incipient state. The few species of Ortho- 
ceras, Aviculo-pe.cten, &c., which do occur, are of a carboniferous 
character, and prove the presence of deep-sea conditions ; but all 
that specially marks the Mountain Limestone fauna (the Encrinites, 
Corals, Brachiopods) are either absent, or occur very scantily. 
It would thus appear, that in this great series, which exhibits 
with singular clearness the development of the carboniferous epoch, 
the bed L marks the point of time when the Mountain Limestone 
fauna in its full strength came into view, while the lower carboni- 
ferous shows the same fauna in an incipient state. The latter may 
be studied with singular advantage on these shores, especially from 
Fife Ness to beyond Kingbarns. 
The following Donations to the Library were announced 
Memoires de la Societe des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel. Tome 
IY. 1859. 4to. — From the Society. 
NederlandschKruidkundig Archief. Yol. IY., Part IY. 1859. 8vo. 
Gelehrte Anzeigen. Band XLYIII. Munich. 1859. 4to.—* 
From the Royal Bavarian Academy. 
Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich, Koniglichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt. 
Nos. 1 and 2. 1859. 8vo.—From the Institute. 
Silliman’s American Journal of Science and Arts. No. 85. Janu- 
ary, 1860. 8 vo. — From the Editors. 
Atti dell’ I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere, ed Arti. 
Vol.I. Fasc. 15 and 16. Milan. 1859. — From the Institute. 
Memoire dell’ I. R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. 
Vol. VIII. Fasc. 1. Milan. 1859. — From the Institute . 
Ansprache Gehalten am Schlusse des Ersten Decenniums der Kai- 
serlich Koniglichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt in Wien. Yon 
W. Haidinger. 1859. 8vo. — From the Institute. 
Die Fossilen Mollusken des Tertiser-Bekens von Wien. Yon Dr 
Moritz Hores. Band II. — From the Same. 
Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances de l’Academie des 
Sciences. Nos. 25 and 26. 1859-1860.— From the Aca - 
