46 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
Period and succeeded by others better able to stand 
a cold climate. There was on the contrary no such 
complete change in the marine flora and fauna. 
Summary. 
Looking at the Alps as a whole the principal 
axis follows a curved line from the Maritime Alps 
towards the north-east by Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa,* 
and St. Gotthard to the mountains overlooking the 
Engadine. 
The geological strata follow the same direction. 
North of a line running through Chambery, Yverdun, 
Neuchatel, Soleure, and Olten to Waldshut on the 
Rhine are Jurassic strata; between that line and a 
second nearly parallel and running through Annecy, 
Vevey, Lucerne, Wesen, Appenzell, and Bregenz on 
the Lake of Constance, are the lowlands, occupied 
by later Tertiary strata; between this second line and 
another passing through Albertville, St. Maurice, Leuk, 
Meiringen, and Altdorf lies a more or less broken band 
of older Tertiary strata, south of which are first a 
Cretaceous zone, then one of Jurassic age, followed 
by a band of crystalline rocks, while the central core, 
so to say, of the Alps, consists mainly of Gneiss or 
* This name has no reference to colour, but is derived from 
“reuse,” a local name for glacier. 
