general objects of this work. 8* 
The Jurassic anti cretaceous rocks of Russia, possessing to a great extent, wherever 
ave examined them, the same mineral and zoological aspect as in the British 
crv«/ n° I:™ FfanCe and Germany ’ thus P resent the strongest contrast to the sub- 
flank a limestones of same age in the south of France, Spain, the southern 
what 1° L A1PS ’ Italy ’ GreeCe ’ Ask Min0r> and the Caucasu ®> which exhibit 
of a f WS een termCd the Mediterranean ty P e ‘- The tertiary deposits, exclusive 
bed, ZTr* ° f Very r6Cent age ’ are m0St ex P anded in southern Russia, where 
forn \ be described which truly represent the Eocene and Miocene divisions, the 
and tT aVlng! U1 P artS) tlie ver y same structure and contents as the London clay, 
Sarv ^ aUer beinS ’ iU faCt ’ the extension of the great basins of Vienna and Hun- 
Terf 6arly ^ n0t 6ntirely deficient in marine deposits of the Pliocene or newer 
Sea lai ’ yP ! ri0d ’ the south ern extremities of Russia, from the coniines of the Black 
Asi^ti n 6 Sea ° f Az ° f t0 the Cas P ian and Aral seas, as well as wide tracts of 
Ivin,’ i ^ CaUCaSUS > are imposed of deposits, which distinctly over- 
rule 16 1 OCeaniC t6rtiarieS Miocene age, are completely distinct from any great 
Lit , §1 ’ 0UP hithert ° deSCdbed - Uni formly and co pionsly charged with a 
of the nUmbei ° f Species of sheIls > more or less similar to those of the Caspian 
to hav P |! Sent theSC widely ' s P read accumulations of the steppes will be shown 
occuniL 6611 f ° rmed eXclusively in the same brackish waters that must once have 
Direct' 3 ! T aS large ’ if 110t lai ’ Ser ’ than the present Mediterranean Sea. 
arran-emLL f attenti ° n of geologists to this grand feature in the former 
attention i° ^ SU1 ' faCe ° f the gl ° be Whkh haS hitherto almost escaped their 
Part of tr D bendescribin S certa in raised bottoms of the Northern Seas, the first 
subacrn W * b conclude with an account of the last scene of a long series of 
Oro . ■ e P°sits, traced chronologically from the period of the earliest-formed 
a „ .i H es ! to that in which the shells of the sea were to a great extent the same 
s th ose now prevailing. 
Se( jj g s h° Wn that throughout all this long succession of deposits, the whole 
ntaiy supeificies of central Russia (forming nearly one-half of the continent 
hy M. von Buell. 
6 See 
in the Ust mem °’ r ° f Colonel Helmcrsen 011 the character of certain shells found 
views (pp 30 o a8lmer (Al ’t' endix )- The discoveries of M. Basinier have somewhat modified our 
Aralo-Caspian Sea } “““"““S the whole area which wc su PP° sed to be occupied by the brackish 
tiary deposi ; ftee Appends on this point, and also for some important facts concerning the ter- 
friend Mr W w u S ° Uth C ° aSt ° f the Bla ° k Sca ’ aud the P lateaux west of Ararat, as derived from our 
V ' • HaK >ilton, M.P., Sec. Geol. Soc. (see Map, PI. VI.). 
c 
