322 MISCELLANY. 



are pulverulents, the interstices being filled with the concrete and conglomerated 

 chalk of the river ; others are enveloped in a layer of spar ; others, lastly, entirely 

 fossilized, are of a blackish brown, shining, heavy, brittle, of a conchoidal frac- 

 ture, and retaining but little of the phosphate in their composition. These last are 

 almost converted into hydrate of oxide of iron. The hard enamel of the teeth 

 resists this transformation a .longer time, and its whiteness contrasts with the 

 coloured mass in which it is enveloped. The specific weight of these osseolites — 

 if they may be so termed — is 4.5, and their composition is as follows : — 



Phosphate and carbonate of lime 17.5 



Water 6.0 



Red oxide of iron 76.5 



100 



The engineer Dean, to whom the discovery of these fossils is owing, thought 

 he had found some human bones, but the anatomists of Calcutta demonstrated 

 his error, and that which he had mistaken for the neck of the femur of a man, 

 appeared to be the outside of a large Stag's horn ! 



Independently of numbers of remains of Elephants, teeth, remarkably well- 

 preserved, and easily recognized by the ridges and other lines on their crowns, 

 were found among the bones of a fossil Hippopotamus. This animal has always 

 been regarded as a stranger in India. It is therefore an interesting discovery 

 among the fossil remains of animals evidently originally belonging to the country. 

 The bones considered by Mr. Dean as belonging to the Camel — which would 

 likewise have been an important discovery — have been determined to appertain 

 to an animal of the Ox family. 



The other bones belong to several species of Stags, Antelopes, Oxen, Horses, 

 Pigs, Rats, &c, with teeth and vertebrae of Saurians, and, lastly, a curious specimen 

 resembling a cervical vertebra of the Giraffe. — Bibliothcque' Universelle de 

 Geneve. 



CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Ornithological Notes. — I found the eggs of the Thrush ( Tardus musicus) 

 and Blackbird ( T. merula) on the 4th of April, 1836. The Hooded Crow 

 (Corvus comix) sitting on the 10th. The Sand Swallow (Hirundo riparia) 

 appeared on the 11th. Migratory songsters arrived generally on the 12th, a few 

 on the 6th. In the present year they did not appear so early, but probably I 



