Zoology. 437 



Eamla, the Dys, the Goucka, the Benisch-Angol, and the Gamanil. It 

 is stated that the Colonel was about to transport miners and gold-wash- 

 ers from Russia, to experiment in this field of his discovery on a large 

 scale. — (Athenccum.) 



9. Vesuvius. — In January last Vesuvius was singularly active, and 

 two large streams of lava issued forth, taking the direction of Bosco- 

 trecase and Ottaiajano. After causing much fear and injury, the vents 

 closed ; but near the last of the month another stream burst out, down 

 the east side, and threatened the villa of Prince Ottaiajano. 



III. Zoology. 



1. New localities of Infusoria in the Tertiary of Maryland; by Prof. 

 J. W.Bailey. — The infusorial strata first discovered at Richmond, Vir- 

 ginia by Prof. W. B. Rogers, have been since noticed at so many pla- 

 ces in Virginia and Maryland, that it is probable they will be found co- 

 extensive with the miocene tertiary of the United States. At present, 

 however, the most southern recorded locality is the vicinity of Peters- 

 burg, Va., and the most northern is at Piscataway, Md. The examina- 

 tion of various specimens of earthy matter included in shells from the 

 miocene tertiary of Maryland, collected by Francis Markoe, Esq., 

 proves the existence of the infusorial strata in various parts of Calvert 

 county, and removes the northern and eastern limit as far as now known, 

 to Herring Bay, Ann Arundel county, on the Chesapeake. Specimens 

 labelled u Marl from Herring Bay filled with water-worn shells, bones, 

 sharks' teeth, &c," yielded a considerable number of the well known 

 Coscinodisci, Actinocycli, and other forms, constituting so large a pro- 

 portion of the infusorial deposits. The same forms were found in con- 

 siderable abundance in the clay containing Perna maxillata, from the 

 vicinity of Huntington, Calvert county, Md., and other specimens la- 

 belled " Calvert Co."" without mentioning the precise locality, were 

 still richer in all the beautiful forms which belong to the deposit at 

 Piscataway, Md. The infusorial strata being thus traced up to the 

 western shore of the Chesapeake, they must now be looked for among 

 the tertiary clays of Queen Anne county, Maryland, and Kent county, 

 Delaware. A wide development of these beds is to be looked for in the 

 Southern States, particularly in North and South Carolina, but no infu- 

 sorial specimens from those states have yet reached us. The Polytha- 

 lamian marls underlying the city of Charleston, South Carolina, are 

 sometimes spoken of as infusorial, but they appear to be wholly made 

 up of the calcareous shelled Polythalamia?, without a trace of the sili- 

 ceous shells of the infusoria. 



2. The Oyster. — M. de Quatrefages has recently ascertained that, 

 contrary to the common opinion, the sexes are separate in the oysters. 

 M. Blanclmrd's observations confirm those of M. de Quatrefages. In 

 his investigations into the nervous system of Mollusca, he has had occa- 

 sion to examine a great number of these animals, and in the proper 

 season, he has always found the eggs and the spermatozoa isolated in 

 different individuals. 



i 



