288 General Notes. | March, 
hand, and on the other with the recent Soricide. All have been 
found in the Lower Eocene near Rheims. 
Recent—F., E. Geinitz (Zeit. Deut. Geol. Gesell.) states that the 
observations he has made during the last four years on the east 
ern part of the Mecklenburg coast prove that it is now sinking 
F. Noetling (/oc. cit.) gives a catalogue of the Diatomacea o 
the diluvium of Western Prussia, with particulars respecting the 
manner and quantity of their occurrence.——M. Virlet d'Aoust 
(Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 1883) contributes some valuable remarks 
upon the incessant formation of minerals, in various rocks, by 
means of molecular transport and displacement. A geode cot: 
taining a small bell of the Gallo Roman epoch is referred to, 
found probably in an ancient alluvial deposit at Conde-sur > | 
M. d’Aoust states that he has proved that all flint geodes, bull — 
stones, etc., are the result of molecular movements that have 
taken place since the formation of the rocks, and that Jimonites 
and the iron ores of alluvial beds have the same origin and at 
still in course of formation. He instances a geode foun 
vine at Perigueux, a veritable eagle-stone,—hematite enclosing 2 
silver pieces of coin of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries i 
re-formation of flint where buhr-stones have been taken iM it 
spoken of as a fact known to the quarrymen, as atso | 
grains of iron ore in alluvial clays. 
BOTANY. qt 
NITE“ f 
Tur Aucusr FLORA oF THE DISMAL SWAMP ABE veto i 
The celebrated Dismal Swamp occupies the greater Lait ia, ae E 
all steamboat > | | 
plies between that place and Elizabeth City, N. e "E 
der. X E 
e mak i 
twelve miles of the lake. sugs? f 
The water in the canal is of a sinister blackness, v5 ey a 
tive of malaria and chills, yet it is both. healthful roast enti , 
and the swamp is the only locality on the southern tannic f 
free from malaria. The water has the bitter flavor of © Soa | 
derived from the juniper vegetation of the swamp: subsist 1 j 
considerable population of whites and negroes ‘on, alae? E 
jumber trade, which is the great industry of this regi’ 3 
1 Edited by Pror. C. E. Bessey, Ames, Iowa. 
