298 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



The interest of this discovery of a locality of Paradoxides in our neigh- 

 borhood is not a little heightened, by the circumstance of its being the 

 only instance, as I believe, in which forms of this genus have been found 

 anywhere on the continent. Barrande after speaking of its restriction to 

 Protozoic strata in Bohemia, Sweden, Wales, &c, has the following ob- 

 servations on this subject : " The presence of Paradoxides has not been 

 satisfactorily proved in any other Silurian region, although this generic 

 name has been applied to North American forms, P. Boltoni and P. Har- 

 lani. The first of these is known to be a Lichas and we know nothing of 

 the other. The care with which Hall has described the Trilobites of the 

 Lower Silurian rocks of the country in question is sufficient proof that he 

 had not discovered any trace of Paradoxides at the time of publishing 

 the first volume of the Palaeontology of N. Y." I may add to this, that 

 in no subsequent publication have I seen any reference to the finding of 

 fossils of this genus in the rocks of this continent. 



The occurrence of well preserved fossils among rocks so highly altered 

 and so contiguous to great igneous masses as are the fossiliferous slates of 

 Quincy, may well encourage us to make careful search in other parts of 

 Eastern New England, where heretofore such an exploration would have 

 been deemed useless. Although we cannot hope to build up the geolo- 

 gical column of New England from the Protozoic base just established to 

 the carboniferous rocks, supposing all the intervening formations to be 

 represented in this region, we may at least succeed in determining by 

 fossils hereafter discovered some of the principal stages in its structure, 

 and thus relate its strata definitely to the great Palaeozoic divisions of our. 

 Appalachian Geology. 



4. Hailstorm in Guilford County, N. C. — On the 9th of June, 1856. a 

 hailstorm of unusual violence passed over a portion of Guilford County, 

 N. C. An observer at Hillsdale in that county, gives the following de- 

 scription. "The cloud came up from the SW about 12. The storm 

 began with rain, thunder and lightning. In a few minutes hailstones of 

 great size began to fall, dashing in exposed windows, and splitting the 

 shingles on the roof of the building in which I was. The rain continued 

 an hour after the hail ceased. As soon as it was safe to go out, some of 

 the hailstoues were brought in. One measured eight inches in circumfer- 

 ence, and I concluded it must have been nine or ten when it fell, as there 

 had been so much rain and that a very warm one. The weather was 

 very hot, and there was no change of temperature during the week fol- 

 lowing. This hailstone was a perfect globe. Others measured as large 

 in one direction, but they were flat." 



u The grounds around us were so completely covered with leaves and 

 boughs of trees from the oak grove in which we were, that we had little 

 chance to know what actually fell about us. A mile westward the storm 

 was still more severe. The trees have a strong appearance of winter, and 

 fields of wheat have been turned over to the use of cattle. There was 

 destruction of windows and of small animals, and a few wayfarers were 

 severely beaten. The storm extended about fifteen miles in one direction 

 and five or six in the other. The hail fell in linen, a field here and a 

 garden there being destroyed, while intermediate ones were left uninjured. 

 The hail had a strong flavor of turpentine. This is the testimony of 

 persons testing it at different and distant localities." 



