Ch. XV.] 
STYRIA — VIENNA — HUNGARY. 
213 
Vienna, and described by him in 1820*, were alone sufficient 
to identify a great part of the formations of that country with 
the Miocene beds of the Loire, Gironde, and Piedmont. The 
fossil remains subsequently procured by that indefatigable 
observer M. Boue have served to show the still greater range 
of the same beds through Hungary and Transylvania. 
It appears from the recently published memoirs of Professor 
Sedgwick and Mr. Murchisony, that the formations in Styria 
may be divided into groups corresponding to those adopted by 
M. Partsch for the Vienna beds ; the basin of Vienna exhibiting 
nearly the same phenomena as that of Styria. These regions 
have evidently formed, during the Miocene period, two deep 
bays of the same sea, separated from each other by a great 
promontory connected with the central ridge of the eastern 
Alps. 
The English geologists, above mentioned, describe a long 
succession of marine strata intervening between the Alps and 
the plains of Hungary, which are divisible into three natural 
groups, each of vast thickness, and affording a great variety of 
rocks. All these groups are of marine origin, and lie in nearly 
horizontal strata, but have a slight prevailing easterly dip, so 
that, in traversing them from west to east, we commence with 
the oldest and end with the youngest beds. At their western 
extremity they fill an irregular trough-shaped depression, 
through which the waters of the Mur, the B,aab, and the 
Drave, make their way to the lower Danube J. They here 
consist of conglomerate, sandstone, and marls, some of the 
marls containing marine shells. Beds also of lignite occur, 
showing that wood was drifted down in large quantities 
into the sea. In parts of the series there are masses of rounded 
siliceous pebbles resembling the shingle banks which are form- 
ing on some of our coasts. 
The second principal group is characterized by coralline 
* Journal de Physique, Novembre, 1820. 
t Geol. Trans., Second Series, vol. iii. p. 301. { Ibid., p. 382. 
