MISCELLANY. 



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Yet it is the opinion of explorers, that here, 

 as elsewhere, the deposits are in minor 

 basins, united perhaps in places, but, as a 

 rule, constituting separata beds, over a vast 

 area of depression. Ilayden says there is 

 good reasou to suppose that this area " ex- 

 tended northward far into Canada, and 

 southward with the Cordilleras ; " a suppo- 

 sition that, if true, would give an extent of 

 coal-lands, in this section of the continent, 

 much greater even than that just mentioned. 



The Rocky-Mountain deposits are re- 

 garded as belonging to a much later geolo- 

 gical age than those of Pennsylvania or of 

 Ehode Island. While the latter belong to 

 the Carboniferous age, the former are found 

 chiefly in the upper Cretaceous or Chalk 

 period, or in the so-called Tertiary ; which 

 brings the period of the Western coals near- 

 ly down to the latest geological ages. 



The value of the Rocky-Mountain coals 

 is unquestioned. From various analyses, 

 it appears, that their volatile constituents 

 reach about 38 per cent., while the amount 

 of fixed carbon is estimated at about 50 

 per cent. Pennsylvania anthracite is much 

 richer in fixed carbon, but the coals of 

 Iowa, as well as some Scotch and English 

 varieties, are considerably poorer in this 

 respect. But, apart from their fixed value 

 as sources of heat, the coals of this region 

 derive an additional importance that can 

 hardly be over-estimated, from their geo- 

 graphical position. In a country without 

 timber, and far removed from other sources 

 of fuel, they supply the first requirement 

 for the development of its resources, and 

 have already become the object of an ex- 

 tensive and thriving industry. 



Lessons from a Brtekt An Austrian 

 savant has discovered, by means of a mi- 

 croscope, in a brick taken from the pyramid 

 of Dashour, many interesting particulars 

 connected with the life of the ancient Egyp- 

 tians. The brick itself is made of mud of 

 the Nile, chopped straw, and sand, thus con- 

 firming what the Bible and Herodotus had 

 handed down to us as the Egyptian method 

 of brick-making. Besides these materials, 

 the microscope has brought other things to 

 light the debris of river-shells, of fish, and 

 of insects, seeds of wild and cultivated 

 flowers, corn and barley, the field-pea, and 



the common flax, cultivated probably both 

 for food and textile purposes, and the rad- 

 ish, with many others known to science. 

 There were also manufactured products, 

 such as fragments of tiles and pottery, and 

 even small pieces of string made of flax and 

 sheep's wool. 



Zoology of the Galapagos. A corre- 

 spondent of the Tribune, accompanying the 

 Hassler expedition, gives an interesting ac- 

 count of the animals observed in the Gala- 

 pagos Islands. He says : 



Over 50 different kinds of fishes were 

 obtained, and of these over three-fourths 

 are peculiar to the Galapagos. Of the Gala- 

 pos, from which the islands are named, and 

 in which they once so richly abounded, we 

 only got a few specimens, and those very 

 small compared with those of olden time. 

 They have been so eagerly hunted for their 

 flesh that they have been driven from the 

 more accessible places, and stand a good 

 chance of being altogether exterminated. 

 Their brethren in the sea, the tortuga or 

 sea-turtle, we saw in abundance, and got 

 some very fine specimens. There are, as is 

 tolerably well known, two other reptiles for 

 which this archipelago is famous two liz- 

 ards, of a genus not found elsewhere, and 

 very peculiar in their habits. The Span- 

 iards called them iguanas, from their resem- 

 blance to that reptile in the West Indies 

 and Central America. But they differ so 

 much from their American cousin that they 

 ought to have a name of their own, and if 

 the scientific Amblyrhvnchus looks too for- 

 midable, let us translate it and call the 

 creature a Bluntnose. On Charles Island 

 we found abundance of the crested Blunt- 

 nose climbing with great agility over the 

 rocks near Black Beach. The creature is 

 about 80 inches long, nearly black, the old 

 males having a deep-red hue on the sides. 

 It swims with great ease by its flat tail, and 

 uses its long fingers and long nails for 

 scrambling on the rocks, holding them, 

 while swimming, close to the body. There 

 is not a trace of web-footedness about them, 

 and they make no use of the feet in swim- 

 ming. They live on sea-weeds from the 

 rocks in deep water, and their expression is 

 mild and herbivorous, with a little clear, in- 

 nocent eye. I was prepared for something 

 hideous, and was agreeably disappointed. 

 In another respect our experience differed 

 from Darwin's, for we sometimes had no 

 difficulty in frightening them into the water, 

 and they came fearlessly swimming about 

 the Hassler as she lay in Tagus Cove. These 

 crested Bluntnoses we found upon all the 

 islands. The slightly-crested Bluntnose we 

 found only on Albemarle and Indefatigable. 



