AMERICAN FORESTS. 439 



ney around the world. His charts are much 

 praised. The charts of the coasts and har- 

 bors of the United States, made under the 

 direction of Dr. Bache and published at gov- 

 ernment expense, are admirable. The reports 

 of Captain Fremont concerning his travels 

 are also most interesting and instructive ; to 



O 7 



botanists especially so, on account of the sci- 

 entific notes accompanying them. 



I will not speak at length of my own work, 

 my letter is already too long. During the 

 winter I have been chiefly occupied in mak- 

 ing collections of fishes and birds, and also of 

 the various woods. The forests here differ 

 greatly from ours in the same latitude. I 

 have even observed that they resemble aston- 

 ishingly the forests of the Molasse epoch, and 

 the analogy is heightened by that between 

 the animals of this country and those of the 

 eastern coasts of Asia as compared with those 

 of the Molasse, such as the chelydras, andreas, 

 etc. I will send a report upon this to M. 

 Brongniart as soon as I have the time to pre- 

 pare it. On the erratic phenomena, also, I 

 have made numerous observations, which I 

 am anxious to send to M. de Beaumont. 

 These phenomena, so difficult of explanation 

 with us, become still more complicated here, 



