Miscellanies. 193 



and he does not doubt that they will be recognized, now that the attention 

 of geologists is directed to the subject, in North Wales, in the Pyrenees, 

 the Appenines, and other high mountain chains. Indeed, he believes, from 

 strong evidences scattered over different countries, that at a recent geolo- 

 gical period, and not long before the creation of the human race, the 

 whole of Europe, and those parts of Asia and America which lie north of 

 the parallel of the Mediterranean and Caspian seas, were enveloped in snow 

 and ice ; in short, consisted of a series of immense glaciers, above which, 

 only the highest hills appeared as islands ; presenting a character of 

 scenery to be found in our day only in Greenland or Iceland." 



3. Red Color of the Salt Marshes of the Mediterranean. — The red 

 color of these marshes, often of a very deep tint, has been for a long time 

 attributed to the presence of a minute crustaceous animal, Ai-temia salina, 

 Leach. Mons. Joly has last year attended to this subject, and has come 

 to the conclusion that tlie color is produced, not by the Artemia, but by 

 minute animalcules, occurring in incalculable numbers, and to which he 

 has given the name of Monas dunalii. This is fed upon by the Artemia, 

 to which it communicates its brilliant red color, &>c. — From Annals and 

 3Iagazine of Natural History, for Dec. 1840. 



4. Ne7v observations on the Infusoria of Rock Salt. — In the ' Comptes 

 Rendus' (March 16,) mention is made of a note received by the Acade- 

 my of Sciences by M. Marcel de Serres, relative to the observations which 

 he is making on this subject along with M. Joly. In the specimens of 

 rock salt of a tolerably decided greenish color, brought from Cardona, 

 (Spain,) the infusoria appear more rare, smaller, and less distinct than in 

 the specimens of a red color before examined. This, says M. Marcel de 

 Serres, finds an explanation in M. Joly's previous observations on the 

 changes of tint which the infusoria that color our salt marshes undergo 

 by age. These animalcules, which are white at their birth, become 

 green in their middle age, and do not till their adult age, take the purple 

 tint which makes them so remarkable. In general, the green infusoria 

 are not so often seen in salt marshes as the red, which seems to indicate 

 that these monads remain but a short time in their middle state. We 

 have found the same infusoria in the argillo-calcareous marls of Cardona 

 beneath the rock salt. There they have their beautiful purple tint, but 

 they are in too small numbers to communicate it to the mass of marl, 

 which has remained grayish. This fact also proves, that in the ancient 

 world, as in the present one, the animalcules were precipitated after their 

 death to the bottom of the waters in which they previously lived. — From 

 the Annals and Magazine of Nat. Hist, for Sept. 1840. 



5. Ornithological Gallery of the British Museum. — The eastern gal- 

 lery of the British Museum, which was formerly occupied by the collec- 



Vol. xLi, No. 1.— April-June, 1841. • 25 



