Miscellaneous Intelligence. 79 



''red clay," somewhat grayer than the typical "red clay," con- 

 taining; some pumice, numerous siliceous shells, the proportion of 

 which increases with the depth, and scarcely a trace of carbonate 

 of lime (although the water swarms with " ooze-iorming " Forami- 

 nifers). The pumice was often penetrated with peroxide of man- 

 ganese, and concretions of the same oxide were abundant in the 

 "red clay." These concretions are rounded or mammillated, 

 fibrous-concentric in structure, and often have a nucleus of some 

 foreign body, as pumice, a shark's tooth, or some other organic 

 relic ; and in one case a fragment of a Plexactinellid sponge 

 was preserved as a beautiful fossil at the middle. " The singular 

 point is the amount of this manganese fonuation and the vast area 

 which it covers." Life was found to be, " although not very 

 abundant in species by no means meagre," in the North Pacific at 

 depths between 2.000 and 3,000 fathoms, all the larger inverte- 

 brate groups being represented. In one dredging, at a depth of 

 3,125 fathoms, a small sponge was obtained, a species of Gor- 

 iiularia., an Actinia, an Annelid in a tube and a Bryozoon. " We 

 were again struck with the wonderiul uniformity of the fauna at 

 these deptlis — if not exactly the same species, very similar repre- 

 sentatives of the same genera existing in all parts of the world." 

 — Extracts front articles in Nature of Oct. 28 and Nov. 25. 



The Challenger arrived at Valparaiso November 19th, on her 



1875; by Lt. Col. 

 under the orders of Gen. P. H. Sheriden. 17 pp. 8vo, with a 

 map. Washington, 1875. — This expedition succeeded in navigating 

 the Yellowstone River to a distance of 483 miles above its moiith, 

 the only obstacles to farther progress being the excessively rapid 

 current. It was found that the water of the Yellowstone is deeper 

 than that of the Missouri, above the point where the two rivers 

 Some interesting views accompany the report, and also a 



N^ebraska and 



J)akoto. in the years "l 855, "'56, '57; by Gen. G. K. Waekex, 

 IT. S A. 125 pp. 8vo. Washington, 1875.— This is a reprint of 

 the report of Gen. Warren, originally published in 1858, and 

 noticed in this Journal II, xxvii, 378. The present volume is 

 issued in view of the general interest now felt in the Black Hills 

 country, the original report being practically inaccessible. 



6. Atti della Societa Toscana di Scienze Naturali Residente in 

 Pisa. Vol. I. Parts 1 and 2. 146 pp. roy. 8vo. Pisa. 1875.— 

 These first publications of the Tuscan Society of Science in Pisa, 

 contain papers on the mammalian fauna of the Pliocene of 

 Tuscany, by C. I. F. Major; on the fishes of the same by R. 

 Lawley; on Eocene corals of PMule by D'Achiardi ; on the 

 natrolite (savite) and analcite of Poraaja, by D'Achiardi, and 

 other papers geological and zoological, by Meneghini, De Stefani, 

 Baraldi, Richiardi, with one botanical, Sulla teoria Algolichenica 

 by G. Arcangeli. ' 



