P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY 



567 



posits beneath it, and a total thickness for 

 the whole system in this region of nearly 

 400 feet ; indeed, Dr. Smith, the State ge- 

 ologist, states that there are good grounds 

 for supposing that tertiary beds exist in the 

 northern part of the State, whose position 

 would be 150 to 180 feet below the Wood's 

 Bluff marl-bed, which is near the base of 

 the Tombigbee beds. The Claibornian bed 

 would then be placed in a position near the 

 top of the series, a position almost precisely 

 similar to that occupied by the Calcaire 

 Grossier (Parisian) of France, and more 

 properly Upper than Middle Eocene. The 

 Alabama Eocene deposits are arranged on 

 this scheme by Mr. Heilprin as follows: 4. 

 " White Limestone " (Jacksonian), but ex- 

 hibited at Claiborne (upper part of bluff) and 

 at St. Stephen's on the Tombigbee (lower 

 half of bluff), not very abundant in fossils, 

 50 or more feet ; 3. The fossiliferous arena- 

 ceous deposit (Claibornian), but shown at 

 Claiborne subaqueous at St. Stephen's 

 very rich in fossils, and of the age of the 

 "Calcaire Grossier" of France, 17 feet; 2. 

 Buhrstone (siliceous Claiborne of Hilgard), 

 comprising siliceous clay-stones densely 

 charged with fossils or their impressions, 

 laminated clays, sands, and calcareous de- 

 posits, about 250 or more feet; 1. The 

 Wood's Bluff and Bashia deposits (with 

 Cane and Knight's Bluff branches) (Eo-lig- 

 nite), consisting of alternating dark clays, 

 greenish and buff sands, and numerous 

 seams of lignite, partly very rich in fossils, 

 and, as far as is yet positively known, the 

 oldest tertiary deposits of the State, 50 or 

 more feet. The author intends to discuss 

 in a future paper the relations of these 

 deposits to those of other parts of the 

 United States, and to correlate them, if 

 possible, with the typical Eocene deposits 

 of Europe. 



Australian Snakes. A correspondent of 

 " Land and Water " relates some interest- 

 ing particulars concerning Australian snakes 

 and their peculiarities. Among the largest 

 is the carpet-snake, or boa, which grows to 

 be ten or a dozen, even eighteen feet long, 

 and as thick as a man's leg, is destructive 

 to poultry, sluggish by day, nocturnal in its 

 habits, and of harmless bite. Most of the 

 black snakes are highly venomous, and one, 



with a scarlet belly, is very handsome and 

 active. The color of snakes depends upon 

 the season when they change their skins. 

 During the hot season the reptile is far 

 brighter in tint, and far more active and 

 poisonous, than when the temperature is low. 

 The color also varies much with the habitat. 

 Thus, the death-adder is nearly red in a red- 

 soil country, black and gray in black soil, 

 and brown on sand, and is exceedingly slug- 

 gish, trusting to the adaptation of his color 

 to the ground he crawls upon for safety. 

 Nothing is more remarkable about snakes 

 than their extraordinary faculty of making 

 themselves invisible. A large carpet-snake 

 can hardly be seen, as he lies along a branch 

 or coiled motionless in the fork of a tree 

 whose bark exactly matches his skin in 

 color. The green tree-snakes are invisible 

 among foliage. " Take your eye for a mo- 

 ment from a snake among bushes or grass, 

 aEd you will hardly ever see him again." 

 Two yellow snakes lived in the correspond- 

 ent's house, among the rafters or in the lin- 

 ings of the walls, where their presence was 

 known by the casts of their skins which 

 they left, for two years, without being seen 

 or heard. Evidence of the existence of 

 great numbers of unseen snakes is afforded 

 by the multitude of tracks, which may be 

 seen in the dust of a road following along a 

 water-course. Snakes seldom advance to 

 attack a man, but generally try to get away 

 from him, and go toward him only when he 

 is between them and their place of refuge. 

 The Australian snakes, even the most ven- 

 omous, can not fairly be called dangerous. 

 The correspondent never knew personally of 

 a case of a bite fatal to human life, though 

 he has often seen the reptiles coil them- 

 selves round the legs of horses and bullocks, 

 " with strong presumption in every case of a 

 bite," but never knew of any injurious re- 

 sult. Many cats and dogs, however, learn 

 to kill snakes, " but almost always end by 

 missing their tip once, and fall victims to 

 over-confidence in themselves " ; and the 

 blacks eat all sorts, whether venomous or 

 not, provided they kill the former kind them- 

 selves. 



Hawaiian Leprosy. Dr. A. W. Saxe has 

 lately made a report to the California State 

 Medical Society on leprosy in the Hawaiian 



