300 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
column in certain fossil reptiles, analogous to that observed in many 
fish, both living and fossil. This discoverj^ appears to mc as important 
in a geological as in a physiological point of view." 
M. "VVencelides writes, from Ilermannstadt (Transjdvania), on the 
sand-banks of the Pacilic Ocean. lie thinks that many of them, 
especially those of the Indian Archipelago, ought to be explored. "It 
might be done," ho says, " without difficulty, and would be useful to 
the arts, inasmuch as those sand-banks would, no doubt, be found to 
contain the same precious metallic ores that are now observed in the 
alluvial formations of the neighbouring coasts, of which the sand-banks 
in question appear to be a prolongation." In a letter upon some earth- 
quakes at the Cape of Good Hope, to which we shall refer again 
shortly, M. de Gastelnan, French Consul, says that during these 
yjlieuomena, " the lower animals appeared as frightened as the men." 
This came to M. Boussingaidl's ears, who feels inclined, from his own 
observations, to uphold a contrary opinion. This distinguished naturalist 
and traveller tells us, that during the violent earthquakes he witnessed 
in South America, he observed that certain animals showed, with 
regard to this terrible phenomenon, the utmost indifference. As M. 
Boussingault was at that time living in a house constructed entirely of 
bamboo-stems and the leaves of palm-trees, he was not tlireatcned with 
being crushed to death by the falling-in of his establishment, had such 
an event taken place. He was, therefore, perfectl}' at liberty to observe 
the most awful phenomena of this kind at his ease. The ibllowiug 
lines, written during his stay in South America, are taken from one of 
his MS. note-books: — "At six o'clock in the evening I was sitting in 
m}' chamber, when I suddenly felt a violent shock ; it appeared to me 
that some one was trying to force open the door of my habitation, but,, 
as the shaking movement continued, I went out, and found my servants 
on their knees praying in the utmost consternation. The earth oscillated 
horizontally without ceasing, and in a north-west and south-east 
direction. This lasted for live or six minutes. . . . During the phenomena 
two goats that were in my field ren)ained quietly reposing on the 
ground. Two mules which Avere standing at a little distance con- 
tinued to graze, as if nothing remarkable were taking place, and as if 
the ground had been perfectly still. My cat, profiting by the disorder 
into which our kitchen was thrown, actually committed a theft by 
running off with a piece of meat. . . .When the earth had ceased moving, 
we heard sixteen detonations, at intervals of thirty seconds. The noise 
of each was instantaneous, or without rumbling, and rcEcmblcd the 
report of distant cannon in a south-easterly direction." 
