CHAPTER XV. 
Miocene period— Marine formations — Faluns of Touraine — Comparison of the 
Faluns of the Loire and the English Crag— Basin of the Gironde and Landes 
• — Fresh-water limestone of Saucats — Position of the limestone of Blaye • 
Eocene strata in the Bordeaux basin — Inland cliff near Dax— Strata of Pied- 
mont — Superga — Valley of the Bormida — Molasse of Switzerland — Basin of 
Vienna — Styria — Hungary — Volhynia and Podolia — Montpellier. 
MIOCENE FORMATIONS— MARINE. 
Having treated in the preceding chapters of the older and 
newer Pliocene formations, we shall next consider those mem- 
bers of the tertiary series which we have termed Miocene. The 
distinguishing characters of this group, as derived from its 
imbedded fossil testacea, have been explained in the fifth chap- 
ter (p. 54). In regard to the relative position of the strata, 
they underlie the older Pliocene, and overlie the Eocene forma- 
tions, when any of these happen to be present. 
The area covered by the marine, fresh-water, and volcanic 
rocks of the Miocene period, in different parts of Europe, can 
already be proved to be very considerable, for they occur in 
Touraine, in the basin of the Loire, and still more extensively 
in the south of France, between the Pyrenees and the Gironde. 
They have also been observed in Piedmont, near Turin, and 
in the neighbouring valley of the Bormida, where the Apen- 
nines branch off from the Alps. They are largely developed 
in the neighbourhood of Vienna and in Styria ; they abound 
in parts of Hungary ; and they overspread extensive tracts in 
Volhynia and Podolia. 
Shells characteristic of the Miocene strata are found in all 
these countries, figures of some of which are given in Plate 2 
in this volume. They characterize the period, because they 
are either wanting or extremely rare in the Eocene or Pliocene 
formations. 
We shall now proceed to notice briefly some of the countries 
