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of the formation in which they were found. These rocks, thoughinteresting from their flora, have yielded few faunistic remains.A species of Blatta only has hitherto been discovered by the per-severing researches of Swiss palaeontologists. The paucity ofanimal remains in a freshwater deposit laid down apparentlyunder similar conditions to those which prevailed when ourLower Carboniferous shales were formed, struck me as remarkable,and it seemed especially strange that there should be an entireabsence of the remains of fishes, which occur so frequently in theCarboniferous rocks of our own district. Accordingly when atSalvan, which lies on the route between Chamouni andVernayaz, I examined, in the short time at my disposal, the slateswhich are piled in heaps beside the quarries and thrown down inlarge quantities into the Khone A^alley, with the hope of findingtraces of the remains of fishes upon them. I found sufficientevidence to lead me to believe that fish remains do occur in theslates. Fossils appear to be rarer at Salvan than at otherCarboniferous localities in the district, and they are generally (allindeed so far as I saw) in an exceedingly bad state of preserva-tion. I obtained two specimens of Annularia from the quarry-men. They exist in the form of scarcely recognisable impres-sions. From subsequent inquiries at the museum of Lausanne ,where my questions were kindly and fully answered byProfessor Renevier’s very obliging assistant, I learnt that fishremains had not at that date been recognised in the Carboni­ ferous rocks of Switzerland . The specimens that came under myobservation were exceedingly fragmentary, consisting principallyof small and indistinct though apparently ganoid scales, showingtraces of striation such as might with some probability bereferred to the Palceoniscidce. I am not therefore able to speakwith that certainty which a few better preserved specimens wouldhave enabled me to do; but I am pretty confident that subse-quent observers will confirm this discovery, which is one ofsome importance, inasmuch as it seems to point pretty distinctlyto the Palmozoic age of the rocks where it was made, and thushelps to confirm the conclusions arrived at from other evidence.

Geneva has a large and well-appointed natural historymuseum. In the entrance is a striking mass of quartzcrystals obtained at the Tiefengletschen. The fossil collectionsare not as a whole in so good a state as those of recent zoology.The collection “ Pictet ” is, however, an exception, the strongpoint of which is its cephalopoda. The echinoderms are alsogood (M. De Loriol). The entomological collection is insplendid order (curator, M. Frej Gessner), as are also the fish(curator, M. Lunel). The museum contains good series of fossilsfrom the Perte du Rhone (Cretaceous ) and also from the Swiss glacial deposits (curator, M. Favre).