380 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, 



At times the Saxon thermometers registered a temperature below zero. 

 On one occasion, attaching two to the same sounding, they registered at a 

 depth of a thousand fathoms ten and eleven 'and one quarter degrees respect- 

 ively. On the next trial, at a depth of 1076 fathoms, both registered ten 

 degrees. In 1296 fathoms water,. the two thermometers in use indicated, the 

 one ten, the other eight degrees, while in nearly every case where a com- 

 parison could be made between the registration of two or more, a greater 

 difference than ten degrees was very rare. 



Some of the depths obtained were enormous the greatest reliable depths 

 ever obtained. In every instance ample specimens of the bottom were 

 brought up, and the depths as recorded by the little sounding apparatus and 

 the amount of line expended were in very exact agreement. 



FOSSILS FROM THE CRIMEA. 



The temporary occupation of the Crimea during the war led to some in- 

 teresting geological discoveries. Specimens of fossils from the various 

 strata were sent to England, and with these, including some formerly sent 

 from St. Petersburg, seventy-four specimens have been added to the pub- 

 lished list of fossils from that country. These fossils, with one exception, 

 belong to the invertcbrata. The geological formations show the probability 

 that, at one time, the Caspian and Aral, with the Black Sea, formed a vast 

 inland sea, now separated by the gradual filling up of the communication 

 between them. The existence of coal deposits had been rumored, but these 

 proved to be lignite of ordinary quality. 



NEW FOSSIL BIRD. 



At a recent meeting of the French Academy M. St. Hilaire announced 

 that a fossil bone of a bird had been lately discovered at Armagnac, depart- 

 ment of the Gers, in France. The bone was described as a humerus of the 

 right side, and as one-third longer than that of the common albatross, which 

 is the longest of those of living birds ; but between it and the humerus of 

 the albatross there are various differences. M. St. Hilaire stated that he 

 had come to the conclusion that it belongs to a peculiar and distinct branch 

 of the palmipeds, to which he proposed the name of Pelagornis mioccenus, in 

 order " to recall the presumed habits of this great bird, and the geological 

 period in which it lived." 



