MEMORANDA. 91 



ings were made, shows that even in the summer months, when 

 animal life is most abundant, neither the surface water, nor 

 that of any depth collected, contained a trace of any hard- 

 shelled animalcules. The animals present, some of which are 

 even now alive in the bottles, are all of a soft, perishable 

 nature, leaving on their decay only a light flocculent matter, 

 while the Foraminiferae and Diatoms would have left their 

 hard shells if they had been present. 



As the species whose shells now compose the bottom of the 

 Atlantic Ocean have not been found living in the surface 

 waters, nor in shallow water along the shore, the question 

 arises. Do they live on the bottom at the immense depths 

 where they are found, or are they borne by submarine currents 

 from their real habitat? Has the Gulf-stream any connection 

 by means ol its temperature or its current with their distribu- 

 tion ? The determination of these and other important ques- 

 tions connected with this subject requires many additional 

 observations to be made. It is hoped that the results already 

 obtained will induce scientific commanders and travellers to 

 spare no pains in collecting deep-sea soundings. If such 

 materials are sent either to Lieut. Maury, U. S. Observatory, 

 or to myself at West Point, N. Y., they will be thankfully 

 received and carefully studied. — J. W. Bailey. 



On some new l.ocaIitics of Fot^sil Diatomaccse. — Some interesting 



specimens of fossil Diatomaceae from California and Oregon 

 having come into my possession, I am induced to publish the 

 following brief notices of them, in hopes to direct the atten- 

 tion of travellers in those regions to those remarkable deposits, 

 and thus acquire more information concerning their position 

 and extent. 



1 . The first specimen of fossil Diatomacese from California, 

 I found among specimens of minerals collected two or three 

 years ago in California by Washington Chilton, Esq., of New 

 York. It was from Suisun Bay, 25 to 30 miles above St. 

 Francisco, where Mr. Chilton says a large bed of similar ma- 

 terial exists. It consists of a light white clay-like substance 

 made up entirely of fossil marine Diatoms, many species of 

 which are identical with species occurring fossil in the tertiary 

 diatomaceous deposits of Virginia and Maryland, while a 

 number of the species found in these latter deposits do not 

 occur in the California beds. 



2. In a box of minerals, collected in Oregon and California 

 by Lieut. Robert Williamson, of the U. S. Topographical 

 Engineers, I found four specimens of fossil diatomaceous 

 earth, evidently from different localities, although unfortu- 



