20^ Scientific Intelligence — Zoology. 



Dr Tori'ey and Prof. Bailey have together examined specimens of lime- 

 stone from Claiborne, Alabama, and have found in them foraminifera 

 of forms appai'ently identical with those occurring in New Jersey. 

 None of this order, except the genus nummulite, have heretofore been 

 noticed in our green-sand formation. In this connection we may also 

 announce the interesting discovery recently made by Prof. Wm. B. 

 PtOgers, of a vast stratum oi fossil infusoria in the tertiary strata ofVir* 

 ginia. It occurs about twenty feet in thickness beneath Richmond, and 

 is found to be filled with new and highly interesting forms o^ marine sili- 

 ceous infusoria. It would be interesting to have the specimens of the 

 green-sand formation of the far west, collected by Mr Nicollet, examin- 

 ed, to see if infusoria or foraminifera may not_ be found in them.-^ 

 Silliman's American Journal of Science and Aris^ vol. xli. No. 1 . p. 

 213. 



ZOOLOGY. 



11. Notice of a Memoir on the Organic Tissues in the bong structure of 

 Corallidce, lately read before the Royal Society. By J. S. Bowerbank, 

 Esq., F. G. S.- — The author submitted small portions of nearly seventy 

 species of bony corals to the action of diluted nitric acid, and thus ob- 

 tained their animal tissue, freed from calcareous matter, and floating 

 on the surface of the fluid in the form of a delicate flocculent mass. By 

 the aid of the microscope, this mass was found to be pervaded by a 

 complex reticulated vascular tissue, presenting numerous ramifications 

 and anastomoses, with lateral branches terminating in closed extremi- 

 ties. There were also found, interspersed among these, another set of 

 tubes, of larger diameter than the former, and provided, in may places, 

 with valves ; the branches from these larger vessels occasionally temiinate 

 in ovoid bodies, having the appearance of gemmules or incipient polypes. 

 In other cases, masses of still larger size, of a more spherical shape, and 

 of a brown colour, were observed attached to the membrane, and con- 

 nected with each other by a beautiful net-work of moniliform fibres. 

 Numerous siliceous spicula, pointed at both extremities and exceedingly 

 minute, were discovered in the membranous structure of several corals ; 

 and also spicula of larger size terminated at one extremity in a point, 

 and at the other in a spherical head ; a form bearing a striking resem- 

 blance to that of a common brass pin. Besides these spicula, the au-. 

 thor noticed in these membranous tissues a vast number of minute 

 bodies, which he regards as identical with the nuclei of Mr Robert 

 Brown, or the cytoblasts of Schleiden. 



