214 Miscellanies. 



above alluded to were discovered, Dr. Torrey and Prof. Bailey have to- 

 gether examined specimens of limestone from Claiborne, Alabama, and 

 have found in them Foraminifera, of forms apparently identical with those 

 occurring in New Jersey. None of this order except the genus Nummu- 

 lite have heretofore been noticed in our green-sand formation. In this 

 connection we may also announce the interesting discovery recently made 

 by Prof Wm. B. Rogers, of 



A vast Stratum of Fossil Infusoria in the Tertiary Strata of Virgin- 

 ia. — It occurs about twenty feet in thickness, beneath Richmond, and 

 is found to be filled with new and highly interesting forms of marina sili- 

 ceous infusoria.* It would be interesting to have the specimens of the 

 green-sand formation of the far west, collected by Mr. Nicollet, examined, 

 to see if infusoria or Foraminifera may not be found in them. 



An interesting paper on these subjects, by Prof Bailey, with two plates, 

 will appear in our next number. 



23. Discovery, in Virginia, of the regular Mineral Salt Formation. — 

 As salt springs and fountains are very numerous in the western and south- 

 western parts of the United States, it was natural to ejyiect that mineral 

 salt would, sooner or later, be discovered. Indeed, strata of salt, in reg- 

 ular position, and roofed and floored by beds of sandstone, were, some 

 few years since, reported by the Rev. Mr. Parker,t a missionary among 

 the Indians of the far west, as existing in abundance, in a mountain on 

 the Salmon river, among the Rocky mountains ; but no mineral salt, in 

 the solid form, had ever been discovered in the United States proper. 

 Now, however, we have the pleasure of announcing this discovery on the 

 authority of the Rev. Stephen Taylor, of Abingdon, Va. His letter to 

 us is dated March 4, 1S41, and was soon followed by a large box of salt 

 of the most indubitable character. 



It was taken from a well which is " still in the process of being dug, 

 at the salt works about eighteen miles from Abingdon, in the county of 

 Washington," now perhaps within the bounds of Smyth county. From 

 Prof Wni. B. Rogers, as the geologist of Virginia, we must expect a full 

 scientific account of this salt formation, which, however, appears to have 

 been discovered, as we are informed, since he visited that part of Vir- 

 ginia. The following particulars are derived from a correspondent of 

 Mr. Taylor, and they may not be uninteresting in anticipation of the geo- 

 logical report of Prof Rogers. 



Different persons vary in their report of the depth of the different wells. 

 That of the salt-rock well does not vary much from two hundred and sixty 



* See Prof. Rogers's Report on geology of Virginia, 1841, pages 38 to 42. 



t In conversation with the senior editor, Mr. Parker mentions (see his travels, 

 p. 108) seeing the salt a mile oft' on the left ; he was too ill to climb up to it, but 

 the Indians procured some for him, which was pure and crystallized. 



