﻿GREWINGK ON THE N.W. COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 



11.3 



bushels] of cereals, — was described by Sir R. I. Murchison in 1842*, 

 and was considered by him to be a submarine deposit, accumulated 

 in quiet water, and possibly of nearly the same age as the Loess of 

 the Rhine. M. Ehrenberg, on examining the Black Earth under 

 the microscope, found in it 6 forms of Polygastrica and 22 of Phy- 

 tolitharia ; and concludes that it is not an aqueous deposit, but rather 

 a soil formed of the debris of ancient forests ; — an origin hypotheti- 

 cally givenf to this peculiar formation by earlier observers. 



[T. R. J.] 



On the Orography and Geognosy of the North-West Coast 

 0/*N. America and the Outlying Islands. By Dr. C. Grew- 

 ingk. pp. 351, large 8 vo. St. Petersburg, 1850. With 5 Maps, 

 and 4 Lithographic Plates of Fossils. 



{Beitrag zur Kenntniss der orographtschen und geognosti- 

 schen Beschaffenheit der Nord-west-Kuste Americas, 

 mit den anliegenden Inseln. Von Dr. C. Grewingk.) 



In the Transactions of the Mineralogical Society of St. Petersburg, 

 1847, pp. 142-163, appeared some geological observations on Old 

 and New California, by Dr. Grewingk, from communications and col- 

 lections made by M. Ilia Wosnessensky. The work, the title of which 

 is above given, is the result of still richer communications from the 

 same, and treats more especially of the Russian- American colonies. 

 It is divisible into two parts. In the former we find descriptions, 

 geographical and geological, — 1. of the Western half of North Ame- 

 rica, between the parallel of San Francisco and the mouth of the 

 Stachin (56° 30'), with the adjacent islands ; 2. of the continent in 

 the parallel of Sitcha ; — the peninsulas Tschugatsk and Aliaska, and 

 Kenai Sound (Cook's Inlet) ; 3. the western coast of North America 

 lying between 59° and 69° lat., with the neighbouring islands ; 4. the 

 principal islands adjacent to the Aliaska Promontory; 5. the Aleutian 

 Islands ; and 6 & 7. the outlying islands. 



The second part of the work contains, — 1. an account of the Vol- 

 canic phsenomena on the north-west coast of America and in the 

 adjacent islands, geographically arranged ; 2. a chronological survey 

 of the same phsenomena, and an account of the general geological 

 characters of this region ; 3. an Appendix (No. 1) relating to the 

 fossil remains of animals and plants hitherto found in the Aleutian 

 Islands and the North-west American coast ; and 4. Appendix No. 2, 

 in which is given a classified arrangement of the materials for a history 

 of the voyages, travels, and discoveries in the western half of North 

 America and in the neighbouring seas. 



The volcanic and general geological characters of the Aleutian 

 Islands and the N.W. American coast are to a considerable extent 

 laid down on the map of the district (PI. II.). The author, how- 



* Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. pp. 712 et seq. ; and Geol. Russia, vol. i. p. 557. 

 f Loc. ext. p. 714. 



