‘ 
on the subject of 
Geology. 411 
abyss. I have no doubt that in descending 2460 feet of rocks, in which 
hands are more useful than feet, a single rash step would be followed by 
fatal consequences. 
3. Metamorphism, (L'Institut, No. 1282, July, 1858.)—Drvirte im- 
pregnated a piece of chalk with chlorid of magnesium and then heated it 
for a long time in a platinum crucible in a sand-bath. By a temperature 
of about 100° C., six to seven per cent of lime were repl 
magnesia, Washing and repeating this eight times, the ratio of me 
nesia to the lime was 1:2, or nearly that of a true dolomite (whic 
. 
ae 
to the action of a good red heat. After several repetitions of the pro- 
cess, the mass became 
: spongy and ull : 
raised to a white heat, it fused to a milk-white mass consisting of inter- 
laced crystalline fibres. Its specific gravity was 3-0; it was not attacked 
by acids; it contained no chlorine, but consisted of 
Si Ca 263 Mg 17-7 
equivalent to (Ga, Mg)? Si, or a variety of pyroxene. 
4, Di irilobus, a new fossil Marsupial in Australia—A new 
i bee 
0 
skull is eighteen inches long, and fifteen wide where broadest, being very 
broad for its length. The species of Diprotodon before descri s the 
skull proportionally narrower, it = about three feet long and one foot 
ieht inches broad. It is called the Zygomaturus trilobus by Macleay of 
5. Permian System of England.—A paper on the rocks and fossils of 
the Permian of ‘Ge A Boo of Durham and Northumberland, nt R. 
Chilian Andes, according to the recent measurements of Mr. Pissis is 
6,834 meters, 304 meters above Chimborazo. It was made 7,287 meters 
23,910 feet) by Beechey and Fitzroy. fae 
7. Mastor pres na Boni tooth tt the Mastodon has been found near 
Morpeth, Canada West. : : 
8. Lowa Geological Report—We are authorized to state that this Re- 
port, by Prof. James Haut and J. D. Warryey, 18 nearly ready to be 
issued. The work is one of great interest in alt its departments. — It con- 
tains descriptions and plates of numerous fossils, and is exceedingly rich 
Crinoid | 
