APPENDIX. 387 



County, by the workmen engaged in excavating tlic canal. It 

 was enveloped by the limestone which abounds in cavities filled 

 with crystals of strontian and dog-tooth spar. It came to life for 

 a few moments, and then expired. There was no aperture by 

 which it could possibly communicate with the atmospheric air. 

 The cavity was only large enough to retain it, without allowing 

 room for motion. C-^' 



The inclosure of animals of the inferior classes in the sediment- 

 ary strata, and even in the most solid substance of rock, is a fact 

 which has been frequently noticed, without, however, any very 

 satisfactory theory having been given of the process, at least to 

 common apprehension. Vide Addenda, for some further notices 

 of this kind. 



Fossil Yegetatiox. — A. well was dug in the lower part of the 

 village of Geneva, in 1820, which disclosed, at the depth of thirteen 

 feet, the branches and buds of a cedar-tree. They were found 

 lying across the excavation, and in the sides of it; and were in 

 excellent preservation. No one could conjecture in what age 

 they had been buried. But this discovery would seem to esta- 

 blish the position that the catastrophe occurred in the spring. 



Madrepores. — A madrepore, measuring eight inches in diame- 

 ter, was found in the upland soil of Caledonia, Genesee County. 

 Smaller specimens of the same species occur in that township. 

 Madrepores of a large size have also been found imbedded in the 

 soil, or lying on the surface, in various places in Cattaraugus and 

 Alleghany counties. They are locally denominated petrified 

 wasps' nests. The lands containing these loose fossil remains are 

 contiguous to, or based on, secondary rocks at considerable ele- 

 vations. 



Boulders and Primitive Gravel. — But the most abundant 

 evidences of diluvial action are furnished by the masses of foreign 

 crystalline rocks which are scattered, in blocks of various sizes, 

 on the surface of the soil, or imbedded at all depths within it. 

 Primitive rocks are foreign to the district, and these masses could 

 not, therefore, have resulted from local disintegration. They 

 must have been transported from a distance. They required not 

 only an adequate cause for their removal, but one commensurate 

 with the effects. Such a cause Cuvier supposes, in discussing 

 the general question, may have existed in eruptions, or in the 



