Scientific Intelligence — Palceontology — Zoology. 393 



PALiEONTOLOGY. 



36. Infusoria. — Ehrenberg has arrived at some remarkable re- 

 sults with regard to the prevalence of infusoria in volcanic rocks. 

 They are as follows : — 



Numerous and widely extended observations have proved that there 

 is an ultimate reciprocal relation between independent infusorial life 

 and the volcanic phenomena exhibited upon the banks of the Rhine. 

 Volcanic crystals of sodalite, leucite, and probably of augite, consist, 

 in part, of masses of infusoria. 



The volcanic island of Ascension, so destitute of life, animal and 

 vegetable, and even of streams of water, and situated in mid ocean, 

 presents an enormous mass of volcanic cinders, which consist almost 

 wholly of organic matters, principally of fibres of plants, along with 

 ^ome fresh-water siliceous infusoria. 



Although observation shews that, in all parts of the world, the 

 infusoria prevalent in volcanic rocks are oi fresh-water origin; still 

 Patagonia affords marine deposits, constituting masses of great 

 thickness. 



The pyrobiolitic rocks in Patagonia constitute extensive beds, 800 

 feet thick, containing no carbonate of lime, and only here and there 

 a little sulphate of lime. 



The cinders which have been ejected by Pompeii are of fresh- 

 water formation ; and they are similar to those constituting the tufa 

 of Hochsimmer, on the Rhine. 



The bed containing the fossil Mastodon, on the La Plata, and 

 that of the fossil bones at Monte Hermosa, and the hills in the plains 

 of Bahia Blanca, are formations of fresh-water origin, mixed with 

 some marine. — (American Journal of Science and Arts^ Vol. i., 

 2d Series, No. 1, p. 123.) 



37. New Work on the Fossil Plants of Scania. — M. P. Schim- 

 per is at present occupied with the preparation of a monograph on 

 the fossil plants of the Jurassic formation of Scania (in Sweden). He 

 finds that there is a striking analogy between the plants of that for- 

 mation and those of the lias of Franconia on the one hand, and those 

 of the keuper of Stuttgard on the other. He has found cones resem- 

 bling those of the Voltzia, and an equisetaceous plant resembling the 

 species named by him Schizoneura paradoxa. 



ZOOLOGY. 



38. On the Structure of the Cranium of the Rhytina Stelleri, and 

 general remarks on the Herbivorous Cetacea^ or SirenicR. By M, 

 J. F. Brandt. — The author states that M. Wosnessenski had sent 

 to the Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg various objects of 

 natural history from Behring's Island, and that among these he had 



VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. 2 C 



