which the last two are sometimes blended into one. The anterior margins of the side lobes are almost at right angles to the axis for one-half or thereabouts of the width, then sloping backwards to the outer corners, which they reach at an angle of about 30° to the transverse diameter of the body.

Just behind the margin there is a single groove, obscure towards the axis but more distinct outwards. There are in some specimens, several faintly marked ribs, but in general the side lobes, with the exception of the anterior furrow, are smooth.

Length of head of a specimen of medium size, seven lines width, twelve lines; distance between centres of eyes, seven lines.

Length of a pygidium of medium size, six lines; width, twelve lines; length of axis, four lines and a-half; width of same at front margin, three lines and a half, and at half a line from the posterior extremity, three lines.

I have seen the underside of the head of this species and the sub-rostral fold is distinctly divided as in A. platycephalus Had not this character been observed, I would have, without much hesitation, referred the head to the genus Illanus.

In Limestone No. 3.

ASAPHUS GONIURUS. N. s.

The above name is proposed for a small triangular pygidium found in No. 3. It is evidently distinct from any described Silurian species of this country, but allied to one that occurs in the Chazy Limestone at Mingan. The form is triangular, the length three-fifths, or thereabouts, of the width, the axis scarcely at all elevated above the surface, and indistinctly divided into segments in the anterior half, but towards the extremity becoming strongly elevated, smooth and pointed. The largest specimen seen is about half an inch in length. It resembles te tail of a small Homalonotus.

Limestone No. 3.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE OIL WELLS OF MECCA.

by DR. J. S NEWBERRY.

Within the past week I have made a pilgrimage to Mecca, somewhat to my edification, and now perhaps you would be interrested in a very brief description of this newly found "city of the profit."

This modern Mecca is, as you are perhaps aware, situated near the centre of Trumbull county, ten miles north-east of Warren. Till recently-like so many towns on the Reserve, and their prototypes, the farming towns of New England-simply the pleasant and very quiet home of a peaceful and thrifty rural population. In March last, however, the Oil Springs, which had been well known to the inhabitants for fifty years, and from their contaminating influence on the water, regarded as anything but a blessing-attracted the attention of some Pennsylvanians, whose eyes had been opened by the wonders of Oil Creek. These parties leased from the proprietors most of the lands in the vicinity of the springs and wells containing oil. In the face of general incredulity and much ridicnle, a well was bored at Powers' Corners by Messrs. Burnell, Jordan & Woods, and a pump set in it some six weeks since. This has continued to discharge three or four barrels of oil daily, from that time to the present, silencing ridicule but producing little excitement.

Many were encouraged to bore on their lots, and two weeks ago to-day the second pump was put in operation. This was owned by two Germans who were quite poor, and who had struggled on, nearly discouraged, until their somewhat rude machinery could be put in motion. With the first stroke of the pump the oil began to flow, as it has done steadily since, at the rate of about twenty-five gallons per hour, or from 12 to 16 barrels per day. The proprietors are raised from their poverty and despondence to a point far above their wildest hopes. After seeing the oil flowing in a copious and steady stream, and the triumphant success of the experiment demonstrated, one of them turned to the crowd, and carried away by his feelings, said, "I tell you now, gentlemen, if

a poor man comes and asks me for a thaler, I gifs him a tausend" -a generosity to which his newly found affluence will doubtless prove a complete antidote.

A few days later, one of our citizens, who was there, asked him in mere curiosity if he would sell the well for $15,000, but he was not to be dazzled by any such trifling sum, and said that four times that amount was the least offer worth considering. When it is remembered that his well is daily paying over $150 profit, his valuation will scarcely seem extravagant.

These two are the only wells in which pumps have as yet been placed, but at least fifty others have been bored in their vicinity in which oil has been found in considerable quantity-sometimes more than five barrels having been raised in the sand pump, and saved during the process of sinking the auger fifty feet—a fact which certainly augurs well for the richness of the district.

This oil is dark, thick, tarry looking stuff, very much like that from the Titusville wells, but has almost no unpleasant odour, and has proved on trial to be readily refined, and to be fully equal both as a lubricator and illuminator to the best samples from Pennsylvania. It is perhaps yet too early to make a just comparison between the Mecca and Titusville oil regions, as the former is not yet fully explored, nor has the productiveness or permanance of its oil springs been fairly tested. The quality of the oil is however, not inferior, and the present indications of its quantity are quite as promising as they were on Oil Creek, at a similar period in the developement of the wealth of that region.

In one respect the proprietors of the wells in Mecca have a decided advantage over those of Pennsylvania-in the greater accessibility of their oil. The most copious flow has been found. within fifty feet of the surface, and the rock is so easily penetrated that a well may generally be sunk to that depth within a week and at a cost of fifty dollars. To fit it for the reception of a pump something more is necessary, but the entire expense is comparatively trifling.-Cleaveland Paper.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for the year 1858. We should have noticed this Report some time ago, but for a press of other matter; and now we can but give a summary of its

contents, referring the reader to the publication itself, which has been very properly placed in the book-stores for sale.

First, we have the continuation of Sir W. E. Logan's exploration of the beds of Laurentian limestone; from which it appears that four important bands of crystalline limestone have now been traced for considerable distances through this contorted and altered series of strata. The aggregate thickness of all these limestones appears to be no less than 4000 feet, and so far no certain indications of fossils have been discovered in them.*

Another portion of Sir William's Report, very valuable at present, is a summary of the latest facts relative to the metalliferous deposits of Canada, and especially the copper deposits of the Eastern Townships. This part of the Report, as well as the tabular view of the localities in the Appendix, should be studied by every one interested in these deposits.

Mr. Murray's portion of the Report, more fully unravels the intricacies of another cupriferous region, that of Georgian Bay. Mr. Richardson describes the relations of the deposits in the peninsula of Gaspé and the neighbouring shores of the St. Lawrence. Mr. Sterry Hunt contributes a series of examinations of the mineral and chemical constituents of the igneous and altered rocks which penetrate the Silurian series in Lower Canada, and form the mountains of Montreal, Beloeil, Rougemont, Mount Johnson, &c., with similar observations on the intrusive masses which have pierced the Laurentian rocks of Grenville and Chatham. We have also a series of examinations of the minerals of the altered sediments of the various series, including the gneissose epidotic and chloritoid rocks. His researches on the formation of gypsum and magnesian rocks, commenced in a previous report, are here brought to a close, and put us for the first time in possession of a simple and satisfactory explanation of the origin and formation of these deposits.

In the appendix to the report is a very valuable catalogue of the animals and plants collected by Mr. D'Urban in the counties of Argenteuil and Ottawa. This, and the catalogue of Lepi

In a limestone probably of this age from Madoc, the carbonaceous matter present is arranged in a manner which conveys the impression on microscopic examination that it must have formed part of organic tissues, and in slates associated with this limestone we have observed cylindrical perforations resembling the Scolithus of the Potsdam sandstone.

doptera in the present number, are the last services Mr. D'Urban is likely to render for the present to Canadian science. He is now on his way to another field at the Cape of Good Hope, we wish we could say soon to return to us.

Mr. Bell contributes a long and useful catalogue of the animals and plants of the Lower St. Lawrence; and he, we are glad to say, is this summer in his old field.

The Zoologist, June, 1860.-Van Voorst, London.

We have to thank the editor of this Journal for his kindly regard to our wish for an exchange, and his favourable notice. The Zoologist is a popular magazine of Natural History and a Journal for recording facts and anecdotes relating to animals. The present number contains among other matters very interesting notices of the labors of M. Monhet, a collector at work in Siam; papers on the habits of the Aye-aye, on the Fauna of Mull, and on beetles of the family Trichopterygidæ, with a great variety of interesting notices of new discoveries and incidents in Natural History.

SPECIMENS OF MARINE ALGE: chiefly from England. Presented to the Natural History Society of Montreal. By Dr. Durkee, Boston. This volume contains a large number of specimens neatly prepared and carefully named. Many of them are from the herbarium of Dr. Harvey of Dublin, than whom there is no higher authority in this department of Botany. The collection affords a ready means for the determination of species to those few stu dents of Natural History in this Province, who take an interest in this humble but exceedingly beautiful and interesting subkingdom, the sea-weeds. Some fine specimens of the more obscure plants are embraced in this book; many of which are not to be found in ordinary collections. There are some good examples of the less common Fuci; but the largest number pertains to the class of Rhodosperms, Polysephoniæ, and Calithamnia which are finely illustrated. Interspersed among the prevailing English species, we find some plants from Australia, and a few natives of America. Altogether this is a valuable gift by one of the corresponding members of our Society. We trust that it will form the nucleus of a complete collection of this beautiful class of plants. The Lower St. Lawrence is particularly rich in its genera and species of Algæ, and it may be hoped that some careful collector will supplement Dr. Durkee's gift by a corresponding book of our native sea and river flora.