ALONG THE PENINSULA OF KERTSH, &c.

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filled up, with a beautiful, deep-red, tranfparent, and radiatedfelenite : others contain only a fine, compact, argillaceous iron-ore, or ferruginous gravel. I alfo obtained here a vertebra,partly mineralized, and which probably belonged to a fmallfpecies of whale. The foflil fhells of this neighbourhood arenever found in a recent ftate ; and are principally of threeforts, namely:

1. A fhort-bellied fhell, or Mytulus, about an inch and three

quarters in length, one inch and one-third in breadth,and, when the fhells are clofed, not exceeding morethan one additional line in the thickeft part.

2. A ribbed Venus, rounded at one extremity, and indented

around the other; being broad-winged towards thehinge, with very thin angles, and fomewhat elevatedfhells. It is two inches and one-third in length, rathermore than one inch and a half broad, and three quartersof an inch thick.

3. A large Venus, fhaped like the heart of an ox, and

flightly furrowed ; having a raifed border on each valve

refembling a ftag's hoof: from the hinge, where the

bafis of the fhell is mofl prominent, towards the point,

its length is three inches; its greateft breadth two

and a quarter ; and its thicknefs is nearly two inches.

To the eaft of Taman, the beach alfo furnifhes many pe-

trified fhells, which likewife contain iron-ore, and are covered

with a layer of reddifh-brown and yellow ochre.

The ifle of Taman prefents an irregulär furface of hüls andplains. This has probably been occafioned both by the finkingof the foil, and by eruptions from the bowels of the earth, as

well

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