QE 
. Miscellaneous Notices, &c. 3 
o3 
great deluge. Farthersouth and close to the Black Harutsch, 
the calcareous hills, rising steep from the level desert, are so 
friable, that ‘ petrified conchs, snail-shells, fish, and other 
marine substances,’ may be taken out by the hand. ‘I found 
heads of fish,’ says Horneman, ‘ that would be a full burthen 
for one man to carry.’ ” 
The third and last formation appeais under its usual form 
of loose red sand, accompanied by rock salt and gypsum, 
associated with beds of a calcareous breccia, cemented by 
magnesian limestone, and of compact dolomite. The drift 
sand is composed of extremely minute grains of red semi- 
transparent quartz. Mr. Buckland observes, that the fre- 
quent occurrence of salt springs and of rock salt and gyp- 
sum, goes far to identify this sand of the deserts with the 
new red sandstone in the south of England. In this also are 
ferruginous concretions, forming etites or geodes; the broken 
fragments of whichare compact, sonorous, and of a dark liver 
colour, having a shining polished surface ; they are abun- 
dantly found among the sand. A narrow bed, entirely 
composed of tubular concretions of iron of similar origin, 
near the pass of Kenair, threw out irregular ramifications 
through the sand like the roots of trees, and presented at 
first sight the resemblance of lava. Most of the plains are 
strewed with magnesian limestone, or dolomite split into 
small laminated fragments, which break and rattle under the 
feet like pottery. Many other varieties of magnesian lime- 
stone and carbonates of lime are associated with the sand. 
and sandstone of the hills and plains of this barren and mis- 
erable country.” 
Arr. V.—Miscellaneous notices of American Moene Y 
Geology, &c. 
1. Notice of some facts at Hudson, wn a letter to the Editor. 
Hudson, N. Y. Dec. 3, 1820. 
Sir, 
Having lately perused your Tour to Quebec, I was struck 
with the close resemblance which the strata of limestone at 
Vou. IV.....No. 1. 5 
