hy Dr, T. Sterry Hunt. 25-5 



of carbon and hydrogen in which the number of atoms of hydro- 

 gen surpasses by more than two, those of hydrogen, the general 

 formula being CnHn+2, so that oils like CisHzo and C26H28 

 contain nearly the maximum quantity of hydrogen, and a body like 

 C14H2 0, whose formation we havesupposed above, could not ex- 

 ist, but must break up into marsh gas and some less hydrogenous 

 oil like petroleum. 



We do not know the precise conditions which in certain strata 

 favor the production of petroleum rather than of lignite or coal 

 but in the fermentation of sugar, to which we may compare the 

 transformations of woody fibre, we find that under different con- 

 ditions it may yield either alcohol and carbonic acid, or butvric 

 and carbonic acids with hydrogen, and even in certain modified 

 fermentations the acetic, lactic and propionic acids, and the 

 higher alcohols, like Ci 0H12O2. These analogies furnish sug- 

 gestions which may lead to a satisfactory explanation of the pe- 

 culiar transformation by which, in certain sedimentary strata, 

 organic matters have been converted into bitumen. 



ARTICLE XVI. — Remarks on some of the Birds that hreed in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. By Henry Bryant, M.D. 



{Extracted from the Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society^ 



Vol. 8.) 



The trip to Labrador, made by me the past summer, for the 

 purpose of procuring specimens of the eggs of those sea-birds that 

 breed there, and also to ascertain what changes, if any, had taken 

 place in their economy since Audubon's visit, was unfortunately 

 delayed till the 21st of June, so that the results were much less 

 satisfactory than I hoped to have obtained. Instead of visiting 

 Anticosti and the whole of the North shore, I was compelled to 

 sail directly to the Bird Rocks, thence to Romaine, the nearest 

 point on the North shore, and from thence, following the shore 

 line, to Chateau Beau at the outlet of the Straits of Belle Isle 

 the farthest point reached. 



The season was remarkably stormy and cold, and I was in- 

 formed by every one that such an inclement one had not been 

 known for years. This also delayed my progress and added much 

 to the difficulty of making researches, as many of the breeding 

 places of this class of birds are accessible only in pleasant 

 weather. 



