158 Miscellaneous. 



people, in consequence of the precautionary measures they take — 

 their nutritive food and drink, and the open airy positions they build 

 in. As a guard against infection or fire, their villages are small and 

 scattered, and on the first appearance of any epidemic they leave 

 their houses and flee into the jungles, living apart from each other. 

 Singbhoom, on the contrary, from the obverse manners of the Oorias, 

 is yearly scourged by cholera, fevers and small-pox. This latter dis- 

 ease, propagated by the Bramin inoculators, has within the last year 

 spread with fearful havoc into the Kolehan, and most unfortunately 

 simultaneously with the introduction of vaccine, to which the evil 

 has alone been attributed. The rains are not heavy in the Kolehan, 

 but the monsoon is accompanied by violent storms of wind from the 

 north-west, with severe thunder and lightning, causing many fatal 

 accidents. None of that sultry oppression incident to Bengal is felt 

 at that time of year. The cold season is truly luxurious — *' a nip- 

 ping and an eager air" without fogs or mists. March, April and 

 May are generally the only unpleasant hot months of the year ; du- 

 ring this period not a drop of water falls occasionally for upwards of 

 six weeks ; the aspect of the country loses every trace of verdure, 

 and the dried stony soil reflects with unbearable force the rays of the 

 sun. Vegetation is vigorously restored on the commencement of the 

 rains, and as these are not accompanied by the gloomy sky and un- 

 ceasing torrents which fall in the plains of India, the landscape is 

 pleasingly chequered by passing showers, and the tender foliage of 

 the forests glistens alternately with golden breaks of sunshine or 

 mellowed shades of green. To the south and east of Singbhoom, 

 and in the most dreary and deserted parts of the country, are re- 

 mains indicative of the former presence of opulent and industrious 

 people, but so decayed by time, and engulfed in the labyrinths of 

 untenanted forests, as to be unmarked by any record or history, save 

 that they must have been of prior origin to the first known Bhooians 

 of the country. — Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 19. 



Fossil Foraminifera in the Greensand of New Jersey. — Prof. J. W. 

 Bailey, in a recent visit to the cretaceous formations of New Jersey, 

 has brought to light the interesting fact, that a large portion of the 

 calcareous rock defined by Prof. H. D. Rogers as the third formation 

 of the upper secondary, is made up, at the localities where he exa- 

 mined it, of great quantities of microscopic shells, belonging to the 

 Foraminifera of D'Orbigny, which order includes those multilocular 

 shells which compose a large part of the calcareous sands, &c. of 

 Grignon and other localities in the tertiary deposits of Europe. 

 Since the minute multilocular shells above alluded to were discovered, 

 Dr. Torrey and Prof. Bailey have together examined specimens of 

 limestone from Claiborne, Alabama, and have found in them Fora- 

 minifera, of forms apparently identical with those occurring in New 

 Jersey. None of this order except the genus Nummulite have here- 

 tofore been noticed in our greensand formation. In this connexion 

 we may also announce the interesting discovery recently made by 

 Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, of 



A vast Stratum of Fossil Infusoria in the Tertiary Strata of Vir- 



