GEOLOGY. 285 



human skeletons, or remains attesting human industry, would be very 

 astonishing. The discovery of these fossil apes is, therefore, an ad- 

 ditional indirect proof of the very inferior antiquity of man on the 

 earth. Le Cunslitutionml. 



INTERESTING FOSSILS. 



THE Potsdam sandstone, which forms the basis of the lower silu- 

 rian rocks of the New York series, has usually been considered to be 

 the oldest of the fossiliferous rocks in the geological formations of 

 this country. Mr. Desor, at a meeting of the Boston Natural History 

 Society, in November, stated, that there had recently been discovered 

 on the St. Croix River, eight hundred feet below the Potsdam sand- 

 stone, a still more ancient rock containing several species of fossils. 

 Specimens of lingula, in a fine state of preservation, were exhibited, 

 and trilobites have also been found. These interesting remains are 

 probably the earliest representatives of animal life on this continent. 



FOSSIL WHALE IN VERMONT. 



THE workmen on the Burlington and Rutland Railroad, while dig- 

 ging, a short time since, in Charlotte, about twelve miles south of Bur- 

 lington, came across the skeleton of some unknown animal, deeply 

 imbedded in a fine adhesive blue clay. Little attention was paid to 

 the matter at the time, and unfortunataly most of the bones were cart- 

 ed off'. Enough of them, however, have since been obtained, by the 

 Rev. Mr. Thompson, to enable him to determine all the important 

 characteristics of the animal to which they belonged, and to give a 

 drawing representing its proportions. He states that the bones discov- 

 ered are those of a cetaceous animal (or some sea animal of the 

 whale kind), resembling the Dolphin. Prof. Agassiz, after a careful 

 examination of the bones, has arrived at the conclusion, that it is an 

 arctic species, nearly allied to the Delpldnus kucas, or grampus. 

 In size it was about eleven feet in length, and six feet in circumfer- 

 ence. The bones found were in a tolerably good state of preserva- 

 tion. The skull was badly broken by the workmen, as well as the 

 ribs. Nearly all the vertebras were obtained, as well as half the lower 

 jaw, one long rib, an anterior rib, some teeth, the sternum, and por- 

 tions of the arms and paddles. The formation in which it occurred is 

 the post-pliocene. The locality is about one mile from Lake Cham- 

 plain, 60 feet above the level of the lake, and 150 above that of the 

 sea ; associated with the bones were several varieties of shells, most- 

 ly of arctic species, and impressions of rings or grasses. Mr. Thomp- 

 son considers that the animal was imbedded in a sort of marsh, in 

 which the rushes were growing, on the borders of an estuary, or strait 

 of the ocean, of which the present bed of Lake Chnmplain formed a 

 part. In support of this view, he mentions, in addition to what is 

 stated above, that it was buried 8 feet deep in the quagmire, and be- 

 low it were rounded pebbles. 



