118 On Fossil Infusoria, discovered in Peat-earth, 



Art. IX. — On Fossil Infusoria, discovered in Peat-earth, at 



West Point, N. Y., with some notices of A^nerican species of 

 Diatomce ; by J. W. Bailey, Prof. Chem.j Mineral, and Geol. 

 at the U. S. Mil. Acad., West Point. 



Through the kindness of my distinguished friend Dr. Torrey, 

 I received some months since a portion of the fossil Infusoria, of 

 the tribe Bacillarias, recently discovered by Ehrenberg, constitu- 

 ting whole strata in Germany, &c. The specimen I received, 

 came originally from Ehrenberg himself, and was brought to this 

 country by Prof Daubeny of Oxford, 



Having by means of this specimen become acquainted with 

 the form of these singular creatures, I was led to search for the 

 living species of this family in various situations in this vicinity. 

 I soon found that they were exceedingly abundant, occurring not 

 only in small streams and stagnant pools, but also nestling in 

 the wet moss on moist rocks. . 



The situation, however, in which I found them to be most 

 abundant was in the bunches of Conferva, Zygnema, and Ba- 

 trachospermum which constitute the green slimy matter known 

 vulgarly by the name of Frog-spittle, so abundant in bogs and 

 slow running brooks. They vs^ere accompanied by great num- 

 bers of the Diatomm, particularly Diatoma flocculosmn and 

 Fragillaria pectinalis. By burning off the vegetable matter 

 from a bunch of the Confervm and examining the ashes with a 

 good microscope, I found them chiefly composed of the siliceous 

 shells of various loricated Infusoria, and what was to me before 

 unknown, I found that the Diatomce were also unchanged by 

 fire or acids, and consequently like the Bacillarise composed of 

 silica.* 



The imperishable nature of the Bacillarise and Diatomce, led 

 me to suppose that large numbers must be buried in the mud at 

 the bottoms of the bogs, streams, &c., where the living specimens 

 occur, but I was not prepared for the discovery which I shortly 

 made of a deposit eight or ten inches thick and probably several 



* Since making this observation I find that the same discovery had been pre- 

 viously made by De Brebisson ; see extract from Megan's Report given at the end of 

 this article. 



