NEW PUBLICATIONS. 271 



iij rare to see a stone at all, and this is coincident in formation and 

 i|! time to the clays we have just spoken of : it was deposited in quiet 



Ij tranquil waters. That these periods succeeded each oiher, there is 

 j no doubt ; that they were short, is equally plain : still wc say dis- 

 tinct, and forming two separate periods. Subsequent to ihe period 

 of quiet, there seems to have been another period of disturbance, 

 as admitted by Mr. L., during which the upper portions of the 

 clays and sands have suffered denudation. The formation at Port 

 Kent, where the fossils are found, is entire, and the same may be 

 said of that at Beauport near Quebec. 



Another point, to which allusion has been made already, is the 

 power that was concerned in transporting the boulders, which, as 

 they moved along, scored the rocks : this is all attributed to icebergs. 

 To this view there is this objection, that the surfaces are polished, 

 and it is highly probable that the bottom of an ocean where icebergs 

 float is always covered by a thick mantle of debris ; but more espe- 

 cially does the fact militate against the iceberg theory, that the 

 entire soil has been moved forward en masse — shoved along in a 

 body, from one formation, over an intermediate one, to another, as 

 may be seen in the Helderberg range. We have, however, stated 

 on several occasions long ago, that boulders were dropped apparently 

 from icebergs during the period of quiet which we recognize ; and 

 these are the boulders we have seen in the deposit at Beauport, in 

 the midst of shells all entire and perfect as they were when living. 

 However, the subject of drift is one of great difficulty, and we are 

 not disposed to trouble our readers farther with it. 



We recommend a perusal of these volumes to our friends, espe- 

 cially those who wish to acquire geological information, and who at 

 the same time would like to know what are Mr. Ly ell's views of 

 this country. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW- YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.* 



In the last number of this Journal, we pubHshed a review of this 

 work, in which we avoided pointing out what we considered as 



* We perhaps owe an apology to our readers for bringing these volumes again before 

 them, which we hope they will find in the following. In the September nujaber of the 



