GEOLOGY. 237 



rlfied forest, which ])resents features of ^veiit attraction to the 

 geologist ami antiqiuu\y. Owing to the intense heat of the snn, 

 the expedition to this curious natural feature of the country is best 

 made at night-time. Leaving the city by the Gate of !N'a=;r, and 

 travelling in an easterly direction, the tourist reaches the " 'J'ombs 

 of the Caliphs." These sepulchres are small mosques, unique rel- 

 ics of bygone splendor, left altogether to the ravages of time. 

 Alter passing them, a brief interval reveals to notice, here and 

 there, fragments of petrified wood, — the advance guard of the 

 forc^st, — which, however, is still some distance off. Bearing uni- 

 formly to the east, and surmounting and descending numerous 

 sand-hills, the promised-land is gained at last, and a land more 

 desolate and more barren it would be difficult to conceive. The 

 term " petrified forest" may perhaps seem a misnomer when it is 

 stated that there are neither trees nor leaves. The fragments, to 

 all appearance, are stones, only outwardly resembling wood, and 

 in myriads of pieces are scattered half buried in the sand. One 

 of the most remarkable circumstances is that the most accurate 

 search, the most rigid scrutiny, fails to detect the least vestige of 

 arable land, the smallest oasis, which could have afforded an ori- 

 gin to these nuitilated relics of timber. Occasionally a trunk is 

 found riven in two, as if split by the heat. The largest of these 

 sjjecimens measures 10 feet in length, and has a diameter of 12 

 inches. One would naturally expect that the species or descrip- 

 tion of timber to which these petrifa(;tions belonged would be 

 identical with that met with at present in the countiy. The re- 

 verse is the fact. The oak, the beech, the chestnut, and others, 

 are distinctly recognized, but scarcely a single specimen can be 

 discovered of the palm, the sycamore, or the fig-tree. Not only 

 does the sjjecific gravity of the specimens vary, as is always the 

 case with timber, but the original color is well preserved. All the 

 tints are plainly perceptible, from the light Naples yellow to the 

 deep) red, brown, or even black. The perforations produced by 

 the passage of insects through the bark are clearly visible, and a 

 gummy secretion has been found in some of the holes made in 

 this manner. — The Engineer. 



Prof. J. S. Newberry, at the 1868 meeting of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, read a paper " On Two 

 new Fossil Trees, the oldest known," found by Rev. H. Hertzer in 

 the Devonian rocks of Ohio. 



Last year several interesting specimens of animal fossils were 

 found near Delaware, Ohio, where also some fossil trees have 

 been found. These are all from the Devonian rocks, and on a 

 horizon below any before known to have furnished any fossil flora. 

 Low down in the Hamilton have been found some algse and land 

 plants. Below these have been found some specimens of fossil 

 wood. Some w^ere trees 2 or 3 feet in diameter, belonging 

 to a class embracing our pine. The fossil referred to in the paper 

 was corniferous. In the corniferous limestone has been found a 

 log 18 feet in length, belonging to the flora of the carbonif- 

 erous age, not represented in our flora. This class includi-d the 

 lepidodendra and sigillaria. The black slate of Ohio covers a bed 



