Geological Survey Cd the State of New Nom . 
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great lakes, and intimately connected with the Mississippi valley 
on the one side, as it is with the mountainous districts of the 
Eastern States on the other. Dr. De Kay observes, that with a 
variety of soil, temperature and elevation, favorable to the devel- 
opment of organic forms, he “finds the Fauna of the State em- 
bracing the great bulk of the zoology of the United States,” 
“in which the geographic range of species is conceded to be of 
greater extent than in Europe.” 
The classification in the “ Rabne Animal of Cuvier,” with 
authorized modifications, as by C. L. Bonaparte and Audubon, 
in ornithology, has been adopted for the final reports, followed. 
by a description of the species, with a notice of their habits, 
geographic range, &c. If Dr. De Kay is permitted to complete 
his illustrations in as good style as some specimens we once had 
the pleasure of seeing in his hands, there is reason to expect a 
beautiful addition to the works in this department. 
r. Beck mentions the occurrence of plumbago in the Fish- 
kill mountains, and a second locality of Gibbsite in an iron mine 
at Unionvale. 
He reports “ specimens of oolite, at Saratoga, similar in char- 
acter to the celebrated English Bath or Portland stone.” In the 
final report we expect to be assured that this rock, with the min- 
eral structure of oolite but without its organic remains, does not 
ong to the oolite formation which forms so remarkable a fea- 
ture in the geology of England, and that like all other specimens 
of that structure found’in this country, it indicates a form of rock 
hot rare out of that series, and affords no evidence of the exist- 
encé of & geological equivalent to the oolite of Europe. 
The similarity-in the geological associations of minerals of the 
Same kind, in the northern and southern portions, is, in many 
cases, very great; in other cases there is no resemblance. 
The “magnetic oxide of iron” is an example of the former 
kind. It is found apparently in beds following the line of direc- 
hon and of dip where the rocks are stratified, although in some 
Cases presenting a variation, and cutting off a stratum at variable 
distances, 
» The specular oxide of iron, in the northern counties, is con- 
hected with sandstone,—‘‘the cavities are filled with beautiful 
crystals of quartz,” with very short prisms, and sometimes only 
double hexahedral pyramids ;—the deposits “are flanked by 
beds of limestone, and the hematitic iron ore of the south usu- 
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