EXTRACTS AND ABSTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. '217 



to them occurred to his observation. But, on the other hand, he un- 

 expectedly obtained the explanation he had hitherto sought in vain, 

 by the assistance of Professor Howeger of Berlin, who furnished him 

 with some mud from the Peene, at Wolgast in Pomerania. 



In the Peene, near Wolgast, not far from the sea (Ost-see), and which 

 also is in the district of the Oder, there are found many of the species 

 which are met with living in the Berlin deposit. They are here found on 

 the surface of the river's bottom, and especially the two characteristic 

 GaUionellcB, mixed with many various living marine animalculse. It is 

 thus rendered certain, that these species belong to brackish-water, or at 

 least to river- water, with an admixture of sea- water. 



They are not found in the bed of the Elbe near Cuxhaven. 



It also appears, from a figure by M. Turpin, in his " Rapport sur 

 une Note de M. Dujardin, sur I'Animalite des Spongilles," in the 

 Comptes Rendus, 1838, p. 556, that there is near Paris a species of 

 fresh-water sponge hitherto confounded with Spongilla lacustris, which 

 has its silicious spicula furnished with spines, whilst in the northern 

 species none but smooth spicula are met with. Consequently, some 

 of those forms of spicula which have been ascribed to marine 

 sponges, may in reality belong to fresh-water species, whose existence 

 still remains unknown. 



The Parisian Spongilla, in which M. Dujardin imagines he has ob- 

 served animal life, is not in fact Spongilla lacustris, but should have 

 another name, and for it M. Ehrenberg proposes the name of Spongilla 

 (Badiaga) Erinaceus. 



Moreover, there are in the Berlin deposit three distinct kinds of 

 spinous spiculse, none of which altogether resemble M. Turpin's figure, 

 and which are probably all marine. 



The report concludes by mentioning the occurrence of a bed of 

 earth containing blue phosphate of iron, mixed with Infusoria, in a part 

 of the great deposit ; and, finally, by stating that the geognostic rela- 

 tions of the Infusorial bed are determined with certainty. It rests im- 

 mediately upon brown coal sand (Braun kohlen sand), and is covered 

 by loam, which has upon it the (Murkischen sand) above both alluvial 

 deposits or mud. 



D'Orbigny's List of the Foraminifera of the Chalk of England. 

 M. Alcide D'Orbigny, in his paper " Sur les Foraminiferes de Craie 

 Blanche de Bassin de Paris," published in the " Memoires de la Societe 

 Geologique de France, 1840," enumerates, describes, and figures the 

 following species of Foraminifera he has met with in the chalk of Eng- 

 land. For the sake of those of our readers interested in this branch of 

 inquiry, we extract the names of the species described by this observer, 

 and append the references to the descriptions and figures, which are to 

 met with in the work above cited : 



1. Dentalina sulcata. D'Orb. p. 15. PI. I, figs. 10, 11, 12, 13. 



Length, 2 to 3 millim. 



2. - gracilis. D'Orb. p. 14. PL I, fig. 5. Length, 1 and 1| 



millim. 



