-2o0 YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENON. 



A PHENOMENON has occurred ill Savoy, which is worthy of the no- 

 tice of geologists. At Orcier, in the mountain-chain above Thonon, 

 a part of the ground sank, and in its place a lake formed. The 

 high chestnut- trees disappeared entirely, with the piece of ground 

 •on which they stood, and in their stead rose trunks of trees to 

 the surface, which had evidently long been underwater, and which 

 must have belonged to a species of tree, not known about the 

 ■country. At the same time a little brook lias formed, that carries 

 away the superfluous water of the lake. 



THE GEOLOGY OF BOLIVIA, ETC. 



A. PAPER on the Geology of this country by Mr. D. Forbes has 

 been read to the Geological Society. The great Bolivian plateau, 

 with an average elevation of fourteen or fifteen thousand feet above 

 the level of the sea, consists of great gravel plains composed of sand, 

 saline formations, oolitic dibrit, volcanic tun, and scoria*, including 

 an accumulation of clays, gravel, .shingle, and boulders, immense at 

 some places, being at La Paz more than 1C00 feet thick. Fresh- 

 water ponds are found at a height of 14,000 feet. Silurian 

 (perhaps 15,000 feet thick) are well developed over an area of from 

 11 to 100,000 miles of mountain country, including the highest 

 mountains of South xYmerica, and giving rise to the great river 

 Amazon, &c. At the same meeting some remarks were made by 

 Professor Huxley ami Mr. J. Salt on some Bolivian fossils brought 

 over by Mr. Forbes. 



REMAINS OF THE HOAi 



Dr. Hoohstetteb baa been bo fortunate as to obtain several 



excellent specimens of Moa bones, including a Moa skull, the most 

 perfect yet found in New Zealand. These v, ere found in eaves in the 

 Aorere Valley: — " The excitement of the Moa-diggers (1 >r. S.wi 



Was great, and increased : lor the deeper they went below the 

 finite crusts coven n l; the floor, the urger were the bones they 

 found, ."nd whole legs, from the Lip-bone to the claws of the 

 were exposed. The] dug and.washed three days and three n'uhts, 

 and on tin' fourth May they returned in triumph to CoUingwood, 

 followed by two pack-bullocks loaded with Moa bones. I must 



Confess that not only was it a cause of neat excitement to thi- 

 ol' Collingw I, bat also to myself, as the gigantic hones 



wen Laid before our view. A Maori bringing me two living kiwis 

 from Rocky river, gai e us an opportunity to compare the remains of 

 the extinct Bpeoiofl of the family with the Living Apteryx, [I 

 me miieh pleasure to acknowledge tin- seal ami exertion-: of my 

 countryman ami friend, llaast, in adding such valuable specimens to 



the collections of the Novara Expedition. Tl (nervations of M. 



Haast, made during this search, throw a now Light upon thii 

 family of extinct birds, lie found that, according to the depth io 

 was the si/.- of the remains, thus proving that the greater the 

 antiquity the larj r the , - The bones of Jiinumis yrussua 



