/«f^' 



Astronomy. 133 



f r 



7th. The littoral sands obtained in shallow soundings at first view ap- 

 pear to afford little promise of affording any Infusoria. But notwith- 

 standing their coarse, and, in some cases, even gravelly nature, they all 

 yield by levigation a considerable number of silicious Infusoria, which 

 in variety and abundance exceed those found in the deep soundings. 



8lh. None of the soundings present anything resembling the vast ac- 

 cumulations of Infusoria which occur in the Miocene infusorial marls 

 ^ of Virginia and Maryland: and, indeed, I have never found, even in 



estuaries, any recent deposit at all resembling the fossil ones, in abund- 

 ance and variety of species, with the exception of the mud of a small 

 H, creek opening into the Atlantic near Rockaway, Long Island. 



9ih. The occurrence of the pebble of limestone wiih encrinal plates 

 in the gravel of F, No. 10, S. E. of Little Egg Harbor, is of some in- 

 terest, as the nearest beds from which it could have come are the Silu- 

 rian formations of Pennsylvania or northern New Jersey- It indicates 

 a transportation of drift to a considerable distance sea-ward- 



10th. In addition to the quartzose grains in the soundings, fragments 

 of feldspar and hornblende (recognizable under the microscope by their 

 cleavage planes and color) are found. The quartz, however, predomi- 

 nates, its grains being sharp and angular in the deep soundings, and 



#k 



often rounded or even polished in the shallow ones. 



IV. AsTRONOi^y. 



th 



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e Observatory of Harvard University, (Ast. Jour., vol. ii, No. I, May, 

 1851,) — I had intended not to have made any communication on the 

 subject of the new interior ring of Saturn, until an engraving had 

 heen prepared to exhibit its position and appearance. However, as 

 I have been disappointed in this respect, and our continued observa- 

 tions having placed the fact of the existence of the ring beyond ques- 

 tion, I will now ask permission to communicate some extracts from our 



t note-book. [The engraving has since been made.] 



" The first diagram of the new interior ring of Saturn was made by 



G. P. Bond, on the night of the 11th of November, 1850. The mem- 

 orandum in the note-book runs thus: 



j . ''November 11th, 22^50'" sidereal time, (=7^30"^ mean solar 



r time,) very good definition. We notice to-night, with full certainty, 



the filling up of light inside the inner edge of the inner ring of Saturn; 



, also, what is very singular, where the ring crosses the ball from c to ^ 



(referring to a diagram), or below the edge, there is a dark band, no 

 doubt the shadow of the ring. But there is also a dark line from a to i, 

 or above the ring, very plainly to be seen, as there can be no question 

 of the line where the ring crosses the ball. 



''The light which fills the corners of the inner ring at x and y is 

 suddenly terminated on the side towards the ball. The light does not 

 '^'■ise, I think, from any optical cause, for I cannot see why the same 

 appearance should not be visible on the outside of the ring, or, indeed, 

 of any object which we look at. Am very confident of having seen 



to-night a second division of the rins, near the inner edge of the inner 

 ring." ° 



