Natural History in Foreig7i Counties. 253 



of Spain, some management was requisite to acquire the means of forming 

 this new establishment. The following were those resorted to : — His Ma- " 

 jesty sent to Cadiz, and there maintained, for nearly two years, one of his 

 subjects, a very intelligent person, who introduced himself, and by degrees 

 got initiated into the Garden of Acclimation of the Economic Society, 

 where the breeding of this important insect is carried on. He so well ful- 

 filled his commission (for which the instructions, it is said, were drawn up 

 by his royal master himself), that he succeeded in procuring about one 

 thousand nopals, all young and vigorous, besides a considerable number of 

 insects ; and, moreover, carried on his plans so abl}'^, as to persuade the 

 principal gardener of the garden of acclimation to enter for six years into 

 the service of the King of the Netherlands, and to go to Batavia. Between 

 eight and ten thousand Spanish dollars are said to have been the lure held 

 out to him to desert his post. In the service of the Society he gained three 

 shillings a day, paid in Spanish fashion, that is, half, at least, in arrear. A 

 vessel of war was sent to bring away the precious cargo, which, being fur- 

 tively and safely shipped, the gardener and the insects were on their voyage 

 to Batavia before the least suspicion of what was going on was entertained 

 by the Society. {Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Diluvian Deposits. — Mr. Eaton has just published an interesting notice 

 of the diluvian deposits in the state of New York, the canal of Lake Erie, 

 &c. In the latter, the alluvial strata occupy two parallelograms; one of 480 

 miles in length by 20 in breadth, commencing 20 miles to the east of Con- 

 necticut, and extending along the southern bank of Lake Erie ; and the 

 other, 280 miles in length by 70 in breadth, commencing at Crown Point, 

 on Lake Champlain, and running along the Hudson. It is also found in the 

 western valleys at the foot of Catskill. There are also many beds of plastic 

 clay in a deposit of clay marl, which is compared to the London clay ; but 

 in no part does this plastic clay constitute a formation. Along the Erie 

 canal, from Little Fall, a diluvian basin extends for 160 miles, having, it 

 should appear, been filled with three preceding deposits; the last having 

 been dismantled by torrents coming from Little Fall, and running towards 

 the west, and the valleys thence formed have been filled with gravel, sand, 

 clay, trees, fresh-water shells, &c. This diluvium is about 108 ft. in thick- 

 ness. The wood, which is Canadian pine, is buried at a great depth. The 

 chief shells are Helices, Uniones, and Limneae. All the plains, elevated and 

 crowned with virgin forests, exhibit, under the vegetable stratum, a bed of 

 fine earth. The antediluvian animal remains are scanty, and consist of Pa- 

 chydermata. (Sillinian's Joicrnal, vol. xii. p. 117.) 



Anthracite. — In Rhode Island has been found a quantity of anthracite, 

 with which Silliman has made comparative experiments, in reference to the 

 anthracite of Pennsylvania. He found that it gives out an equal volume of in- 

 flammable gas, and burns without difficulty in furnaces built with fire-proof 

 bricks. It burns with a considerable red flame, and with a very intense 

 heat. Its colour is steel-grey, and much resembles plumbagine. The sur- 

 face is sometimes covered with a thin pellicle of this substance ; and small 

 particles of genuine plumbagine are accidentally among the schists which 

 company it. It sounds semi-metallic, and is somewhat of a slaty structure. 

 {Silliman^s Journal.) 



Ancient Fish-banks near Lake Ontario. — All along the western rivers, 

 and little lakes near the Lake Ontario, are small mounds and heaps of gra- 

 vel of a conical form, erected by fish for the protection of their spawn : 

 these fish-banks are found at the foot of the ridge, on the side towards the 

 lake ; on the opposite side none have been discovered. The ridge between 

 Genessee and Niagara runs in a direction from east to west, with a general 



S 3 



