* 
268 Scientific Intelligence. 
from Tuomey’s account, extended into South Carolina. No one, I sup- 
pose, will tell us that the Venericardia planicosta existed in the Cretaceous 
period, yet countless thousands may be observed at the base of t 
ene. It is true that in Europe a series of strata, termed Upper and 
Lower “ Landenien” and “Heersien,” are said to intervene between the 
chalk and Eocene; but one of the characteristic fossils of the Upper Lan- 
denien occurs in the Shark river beds,—the Cyprina Morrisii of Sowerby. 
It is therefore probable that the former system is merely an extension of 
the London clay. Certainly, in the United States, there is no such sys- 
tem as the “Heersien,” whilst Lyell found, in the Belgium Lower “Lan- 
denien” grey marl, a perfect specimen of the Terebratulina gracilis, a 
well known chalk fossi],—together with Ostrea (Hxogyra) lateralis Nyst. 
Lyell remarks, that the Lower “ Landenien,” at Folx les Caves, rests on 
the Maestricht chalk. es 
ere is an extensive bed of lignite in Europe of Eocene age, which 
Deshayes says forms a well determined horizon with the long series of 
“sables inférieures.” “Above the lignite appears a bed of fresh-water and 
marine shells, the horizon of which I believe to be the same as that of the 
lignite formation of the United States. They reveal a singular state of 
the globe at the commencement of the Tertiary period, presenting a vast 
level region covered by a dense forest, in which palms and oaks grew 
side by side, interspersed with lakes and rivers, and long shallow bays of 
salt water penetrating to the interior of the continents. This state of 
the globe was exhibited in Europe and America at the same time, and 
the land was little elevated above the sea level, except that in America 
the Appalachian and Rocky mountain ranges stood out from the vast 
n. 
maining. A few of the bivalves have connected valves. About twenty- 
species of shells and plants have been collected, of which I think six 
shells are identical with species of the London Clay and one of the P. 
tie Clay, Cyprina Morrisii—Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci., 1865,70. 
5. On the Fossil Insects from Illinois, the Miamia and Hemerisiia, 
described in vol, xxxvii, of this Journal, at page 34; by SamusL H. 
Scupper. {From a letter to Professor Dawa.)—In my study of the specl- 
mens of fossil insects from Illinois, allowed me through your kindness, I 
have observed new facts of interest, and arrived at some conclusions i 
