the more hard and solid. Sometimes large boulders of quartz are found deep beneath the surface, in the midst of auriferous clay; but it is remarkable that in such cases the quartz boulders rarely or never contain gold, however rich the clay it lies in may be.

These quartz veins appear, as already said, to be the original seat and matrix of the gold. The slate rocks having undergone continual degradation during the lapse of ages, the quartz veins also have suffered decay and disintegration when their enclosing walls no longer existed; the joints and fissures in the veins of course aiding the destructive process. Hence the gold disseminated in their mass became liberated, and, together with the materials of the quartz veins and slate rocks, were washed down into the gullies and creeks, where the latter formed the beds of clay, gravel, &c., now found in these depressions; whilst the particles, grains, and nuggets (or pepites) of the precious metal by their own weight descended to the lowest of the permeable beds, and into the chinks and cavities of the slate rocks beneath, forming the pockets" of the miners.

Mode in which the Gold is deposited.-Occasionally the gold grains are seen strewn on the top of the soil. Sometimes they lie 30 feet beneath the surface, and may also be met with in other localities at every intermediate depth. The "Diggings" may however be conveniently classed into two divisions: first, "Surface Workings;" second, "Pi" or "Hole Workings." In the first the gold is either found lying on the surface or (much more commonly) is diffused through the grav elly soil to the depth of six or 12 inches, beneath which is usually a stiff red clay containing little or no gold. These deposites are commonly on the sides and crests of hills adjoining rich gullies. The second or deeper class of workings consists of pits or "holes" from three or four to 25 or even 30 feet deep. In these deposits the gold is almost always imbedded in a stiff clay. When any spot is rich on the surface no gold will be found immediately beneath, and vice versa when rich below it will yield nothing on the surface.

These deeper or Pit Workings are of three kinds :

1. In the channel of an auriferous creek, at points where the stream is impeded by bars of vertical slates traversing the valley, gold is often found by sinking through the alluvial mud and earth down to the rocky channel beneath. Here the gold is lodged in a grey clay, which fills the chinks and fissures of the slate rock whence the miners extract it by means of knives, spoons, shears, or any other tool they can meet with. Where the bed of the stream expands into an alluvial flat, the auriferous deposit will also increase in width. Such was the firstworked "Golden Point" of Mount Alexander, a local expansion of the bed of Forest Creek. If it should happen that the existing Creek has left its original channel, the run of the gold deposit then quits the mudern Creek and follows its ancient channel. These workings in the beds of creeks are commonly from three to ten feet deep. They were the first undertaken at Mount Alexander. The deposits are richest at points where the stream has been impeded in its course, either by frequent sinuosities or by being crossed by a bar of slate as already mentioned.

2. A second kind of deep auriferous deposit is met with in the dry gullies which descend from the higher ranges to the main valleys,

generally with a gentle inclination, from a quarter of a mile to a mile in length. These gullies in some spots are narrowed by the converging hills and sometimes expand into open slopes or flats. Here the gold is commonly found, at from 10 to 20 feet beneath the surface, in a reddish or yellowish clay, lying either upon the fundamental rocks, in the chinks of the vertical slate, or else upon a thick tenacious white or yellow clay, known by the miners as " Pipe Clay." This is sometimes of unknown depth, and sometimes, passes imperceptibly into the vertical lamine of soft micaceous slate. In some of these gullies there is a continuous line of workings half a mile in length. The richest deposit is always found in what appears to be the ancient channel or bed of the gully, where the opposite slopes of the rocky gully meet deep beneath the overlying strata of gravel and clay. The breadth of the area which yields gold is usually not more than a few feet, rarely if ever more than a few yards. The superior strata clearly owe their origin to running water. They differ much in composition in different locali ties. They may be hard or soft-may consist of tenacious clay or of sandy gravel. When first turned up they almost always are of some bright hue of red, yellow, or white; but this soon fades away on exposure to the air. It is remarkable, that these gullies are, with scarcely an exception, on the south side only of the valley.

3. The third kind of deep workings are those on the sides and crests of the low rounded hills or acclivities at the sides of the auriferous gullies. It often happens that the width of an auriferous gully is con tracted before it falls into the main valley by spurs from the lateral hills, which, protruding from either side, form a kind of gateway to the gully. In such localities the gold deposit was found to continue across the gully up to the foot of these enclosing hills, and thence up their sides to the rounded crest, where the rich field commonly ceases. In the gully below, the gold-bearing deposit may be at a considerable depth. At the crest of the hill it will also be deep; but intermediately, at the foot of the hill, the "holes" will be perhaps only two or three feet deep, or the gold may in this intervening space be scattered in the surface gravel; so that a section through the hill and gully below would exhibit the gold deposit.

The alluvial strata on the sides and tops of these hills have a general conformity to the present surface, but are extremely irregular, so that two pits, a few yards apart, may present two totally different sections; as though the beds had been deposited by means of strong conflicting eddies and currents. They consist sometimes of stiff red and yellow clays, like those in the gullies; but there also frequently occur beds of a very hard reddish concrete, composed of quartz and slate pebbles. At Ballarat large boulders of quartz, two or three feet in diameter, were found imbedded in the auriferous clays, and, more rarely, detached masses of a conglomerate of fragments of lava, trap, and quartz, imbedding rounded pieces of gold. At these workings the rich" pock ets" of gold were commonly associated with a bluish clay, running in irregular veins and patches. So rich was this clay, that 9 lbs. weight of gold have been taken from a single tin-dishful of it, about fourteen inches in diameter and five or six inches deep.

Enormous amounts of gold have been taken from some of these rounded alluvial hills. The yield, however, is not so uniform as in the gullies; a rich spot and a barren may often lie close together. In these deposits, as in those of the dry gullies, the gold is usually imbedded in red or yellow clays, lying immediately on the fundamental slates, or on the "pipe clay." When the gold-yielding clay lies on the rock, small lumps or nuggets of gold will sometimes slip down between the vertical states.

In conclusion, the methods of separating the gold from the gravels and clays are the same as those used elsewhere in New South Wales and California, and vary of course according to the means at the command of the miners*.

2. On the Structure of Agate; by THEODORE GÜMBEL, (Leonhard u. Bronn's N. Jahrb. f. Min., 1853, pp. 152-157; Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., ix, 259.)-The curious and beautiful appearances afforded by agates have long made them of primary importance in mineralogical cabinets; but until of late years particular attention does not seem to have been paid to the internal structure of these bodies. Dr. J. Zimmerman is the first, to my knowledge, who observed that the different varieties of quartz-as amethyst, calcedony, carnelian, jasper -formed the concentric layers of the nodules, which were either hollow or occupied with crystals.

In the Jahrbuch of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna for 1851, is a very interesting memoir on the interior structure of agates by Prof. Dr. Franz Leydolt, where he states that, on being submitted to the action of fluoric acid, the amorphous portions are dissolved before the crystalline layers or bands; and the agate surface being thus prepared, it is made use of in printing an exact copy of itself. The six beautiful plates accompanying the memoir perfectly exemplify Prof. Leydolt's views, and show-first, that the parts towards the outer surface consist of several spherules variously combined, which are composed of layers of diverse character; secondly, that towards the centre of the nodule is a large mass of amethystine quartz, the nucleus of the latter again being formed of very small concentric spherules.

In the Jahrbuch für Praktische Pharmacie, Sc. 1852, is a short paper of mine on the rotatory motion of matter in the amorphous condition, in which I have shown, that in a sphere of blown glass the material is not homogeneous, but consists of lamellæ overlying one another at varying angles and confusedly distorted. As in the thin pellicle of blown glass the intimate structure of the soap bubble is as it were fixed, so I sought to make further researches by means of experiments on molecular movement, such as can be observed in so many instances. One of the most successful experiments was the use of melted stearine with which very fine graphite had been mixed, spangles of which easily

* Besides the Ballarat and Mount Alexander gold-fields, "diggings" have been opened at Mount Blackwood and on the Moorabool River, near Ballarat; on the Plenty and Yarra Yarra Rivers, N. E. of Melbourne; on the Mitta Mitta River and Lake Omeo, in the N. E. part of the Colony; as well as at several points along the eastern portion of the Boundary-line between Victoria and New South Wales. In his Taschenbuch für Mineralogie.

See also Mr. Hamilton's Paper on the Agate Quarries of Oberstein, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., vol. iv, p. 215.-Transl. g Vol. ii. No. 2, p. 124.

indicated the intimate motion of the mass. By this easy experiment it appears that in some parts there was a strong tendency to the formation of spheres, and which existed even in the interior of the larger spheres, giving rise to smaller spherules.

III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY..

1. Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati. Fungi of Carolina, illustrated by natural specimens of the species; by H. W. RAVENEL, Corr. Mem. of Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia, &c. Fasc. II.-We are glad to see Mr. Ravenel encouraged to so early an issue of another century of Carolina Fungi. In the quantity and quality of the specimens, this fasciculus is equal and perhaps superior to the first. The paper is superior, though that of the former was certainly good enough. In these respects the collection thus far is equal to anything of the kind we are acquainted with. Rather more than half of the species are exclusively American, some of which are now for the first time published.

We much regret the necessity of finding any fault with a work of such general excellence and accuracy. But we do not remember to have seen a work containing so large a proportion of typographical errors. There are also some unfortunate specimens of Latinity. The first volume contained much fewer blemishes of this kind. In a work containing so little letter-press, and so easy of correction, such errors are the less excusable.

M. A. C.

2. Comparative Anatomy; by C. TH. V. SIEBOLD and H. STANNIUS. Translated from the German, and Edited with Notes and Additions, recording the recent progress of the Science, by WALDO I. BURNETT, M.D. Vol. I, Anatomy of the Invertebrata; by C. TH. V. SIEBOld. Boston, 1854: Gould & Lincoln.

This work, promised many years since, has at length appeared, and in a form creditable to all parties concerned. As a treatise upon Ánatomy, this work of von Siebold and Stannius is well known to naturalists, and has rightly been regarded as the most complete and comprehensive that has ever been published; and its appearance in an English dress together with the additions of the translator, will be regarded as a contribution of no little value, especially to American and English students.

In order to illustrate in brief some of the distinguishing features of the work we cannot do better than quote a paragraph from the Notice of the Translator and Editor. He says: "In the text will be found a lucid yet succinct exposition of the anatomical structure of organs, arranged as far as practicable under distinct types. The details on which this typical summary is based, are comprised in notes which are as remarkable for their erudition as for their copiousness; indeed, the utmost care has been taken in the literature of the various subjects treated, and the student will find here the most reliable and at the same time the fullest reference to the bibliography of nearly every subject. in comparative anatomy. In this way, the work as a whole furnishes a complete dictionary of the science, and will prove invaluable even as a work of suggestion and reference, to those who would pursue any special line of inquiry and research in this department."

Dr. W. I. Burnett, who is well known by his own thorough and mi. nute researches in many points in anatomy, has performed his duties as translator with great fidelity, and has also increased largely the value of the edition by his extended additions to the notes and references. He has thus included the most recent results of foreign researches, and has made the work more complete in its exhibition of American Science. The typographical appearance of the volume is excellent. We have seen no scientific work published in this country that is more credita. ble in its appearance. It is filled with technical words, and the bibliographical references in the notes are given, as to their titles, in the language in which the works referred to are written. This technicality of terins and the intermixture of some half dozen different languages, must have rendered the work one of great difficulty to the printer. The type is clear, distinct, and apparently new, and the correct relation between that of the text and the notes gives the page a very handsome aspect. As to the orthography of nomenclature, the work will be found to have no superior, for it is evident that the most scrupulous care has been taken in the correct and most approved spelling of scientific terms. We make these remarks, because in these days of rapid book-making, where all is sacrificed to cheapness of sale, it is really pleasant to meet with volumes the comeliness of whose pages delights the eye, equally as their science instructs the mind. We hope that we shall see more in equally excellent style, and from the same enterprising publishing. house, Messrs. Gould & Lincoln, of Boston.

The second volume of this encyclopedian anatomical work is, we learn, in press, and will be issued as soon as practicable. It will com. prise the anatomy of the Vertebrata, and we wish Dr. Burnett no bet ter success than that it may prove the mate of the present volume.

G. N. P.

IV. ASTRONOMY.

1. New Planet, Euterpe (27).—Mr. J. R. HIND announces the discovery of another asteroid on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 8, in TauIt is less brilliant than stars of the ninth magnitude. The following elements were calculated by Mr. CHARLES MATHIEU from observations of Nov. 8, 12, and 17th.

rus.

2. New Comet, (Astron. Jour., 66.)—Mr. ROBERT VAN ARSDALE of Newark, N. J., discovered a new comet on the 25th of November in the constellation Cassiopeia. Its position Nov. 25 at 6 50 P. M., was R. A. 2h 7m, Dec. +60° 12′. Nov. 30 at meridian passage 9h 5, R. A. 1h 44m, Dec. + 54° 10'.