Ti.' Tllfc: AMERKWN MONTHLY [March, 



Lithobotrvs »tili(;era. I.ithobotrvN nidiiN pi-iuiiihis. 



adspcrsa. nilnoRa? 



ijetniiiata. 



Now. just count up tlic luiinbor of «jencra aiul species in tiiis 

 list and see the significance of it. Of tlie jSj species fiijurcd hv 

 Khrenherj» as founil in this deposit, here are 136, or nearly one- 

 hah": of the ^3 jjcnera. here are 39. or all but four. How is that 

 for t)ne sinnnier's work .' Need I s;iy that I was thorouj^iily satis- 

 (ie»l witli it? I will not undertake to sav that all of those species 

 are named correctly. It will he nolicetl that in ahout a half n 

 tio/en instances I have put a (juestion-niark after them. And 

 possihly there are others that are tlonhtful or wronj^. But the 

 point is this. that, unless I am vers much mistaken, they are 

 eitiier rij^ht or they are not given l»y Khrenherg — in other words, 

 belong to the 141 species ligurecl by Mrs. Hurv. or to the 80 

 species whicli Haeckel estimates that this deposit contains over 

 and above the 423 figured by them both. And in addition to these 

 that I have uamed there are on these slides of picked forms, be- 

 sides duplicates, about 100 species that I have not as yet been 

 able to place at all. In some cases I could not even be sure of 

 the genus. As to the genera given in the above list, hpwever, I 

 am confident that, with scarcely an exception, they are correct. 

 Wliat better material, therefore, could a man ask for than this 

 same Harbailoes earth ? Hut these 136 species did not all come 

 from one locality. They represent no less than five. Springfield 

 ami Malvern Hill, iiowever. furnished 32 out of the 39 genera, so 

 that the material from those two localities will be all that the 

 student requires to enable him to study the genera very satisfac- 

 torily. And when he has found all those 32, if he will take the 

 trouble to drop me a line, I will sentl him some material that 

 will supply two or three genera more. 



(hi Soiin' Minute Mjiirix'tic jiimI llyjilinc Splicniles Foiiiid In 

 Tt'rracc Diisl. 



[From Bulletin of the Microscopical Society of Calcutta ] 



In the accompanving figures will be found illustrations of some 

 verv minute particles of a glassy nature which were first col- 

 lected bv Mr. C BIech}nden. (jf Calcutta, by means of a magnet, 

 in the tlust gathered upon the flat-roofed houses of that city, 

 some of them at a considerable height. He suggested that they 

 might be of meteoric origin. Mr. W . J. .Simmons made draw- 

 ings and prepared the following descriptions. He was inclined 

 to agree to the theory of meteoric origin on account of the 

 rounded, smooth surfaces, glassy appearance, and magnetic char- 

 acters — properties that woidd characteri/x- molten cosmic mate- 

 rial falling through the atmosphere. He said : 



