340 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Aubenas glistened in the sun, and we thought we saw the Alps 
of Dauphine dimly through the haze. 
Aubenas is situated on a lofty eminence above the Ardeche, 
which flows far below, and is crossed by a stone bridge. The 
prospect from the parapet in front of the great square is 
wonderfully extensive, diversified as it is with woods, villages, 
and cultivation ; the Coiron range, capped by basalt, just 
opposite, and lofty granite mountains rising to the north. The 
brown old town has quite a mediaeval aspect, and from its situa- 
tion must in olden times have been a stronghold. The Hotel 
de rUiiion is the best, but very inferior to the hotels at Vais. 
There are, however, diligences from Aubenas to all parts of the 
surrounding country, so that the geologist may easily start by 
one of them at an early hour in the morning, and walk back. 
The opening of the railway to Montelimar will much facili- 
tate the exploration of this country by naturalists. On the 
right of the road in ascending to Aubenas we see sections of 
Jurassic rocks. These rocks are of Liassic age I believe, but we 
saw no fossils. They are traversed by a dike of augitic green- 
stone which forms the summit of the hill. 
From Aubenas to Montelimar the scenery changes altogether; 
and nothing can be more different than is this drive as com- 
pared with the scenery of Jaujac and Montpesat, yet most 
interesting to the geologist. There is a grand section of 
Jurassic strata across the Ardeche, very similar in mineral- 
ogical appearance to the Lima beds of the Lias ; and, as the 
ascent is of long duration, we had several opportunities of 
looking for fossils, but found none. 
Between Aubenas and Villeneuve de Bere, we had an oppor- 
tunity of observing the way in which masses of basalt strewed 
the plains ; every wall is built of them. This debris is a relic 
of the denudation and degradation of the escarpments of the 
Coiron hills wearing backwards. Beyond Villeneuve we have 
fine views of the great headlands of the Coiron mountains, and 
their dark cappings of basalt, the source of which we longed to 
investigate from Vais, but were prevented. Mr. Scrope believed 
that these basaltic currents flowed from the Mezen ; but there are 
one or two objections to that idea. There is no basalt whatever 
overlying the granite for several miles, between a place called 
Le Grua, north of Antraigues, and the volcanic eruptions near 
the sources of the Loire. Again, Mr. Scrope mentions that the 
well-known land-shell, Cyclostoma elegans , has been found in 
old land surfaces underneath the Coiron basalts. This does not 
look as if the Coiron basalts were as old as those of the Mezen. 
Be this as it may, the geologist cannot fail to be struck with the 
lapse of time indicated by the erosion of vast masses of strata, 
the effects of frosts and snows, rains and rivers, since the basalt 
