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When shut, the rays of these fins are brought close together, but do not overlap each other as is the case with the rays of the dorsal and anal and with the middle rays of the caudal. The dorsal has a narrow base, as has also the anal, both fins having the same structure, differing only in size. There are two small rays in advance of the long ray of the dorsal, followed by seven branching rays the last of which, however, is a double ray. The anal has precisely the same number of rays. The caudal is large, furcate, and has eight smaller rays along the upper and lower margin; then, on each side, a large simple ray. The upper and lower lobes are apparently equal; there is, however, one ray more in the upper lobe, that is to say, nine above and eight below. The inner ones overlap each other when the fin is shut. The scales are of medium size and have the common appearance of Leuciscus scales. The lateral line slightly bent downwards behind the operculum, follows about the middle of the side. The intestine has twice the length of the abdominal cavity, and is a simple tube tapering from the stomach backwards. The air bladder as usual, consists of two divisions with a tube opening into the pharynx. The humerus forms a widely rounded angle above the pectorals.

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Fig. 18, a, represents the right pharyngeal from behind, b from within so as to show the crown of the teeth from above, c represents the same in profile to show the insertion of the teeth; d and d', represent the same tooth, the second above the symphysis, from two sides showing how much it is compressed; e is a side view of the outer or upper tooth of the main row.

Mylocheilus lateralis, Agass. & Pick.

Greenish blue above with a reddish line upon the sides. Upper fin greenish. The edge of the caudal reddish. Pectorals and ventrals orange. The horny plate of the mouth is of a brownish orange.

Caught in the Columbia River at Fort Vancouver in Oregon.

(To be continued.)

ART. XXIII.-Discovery of a Coal Basin on the Western borders of the Lake of the Woods; by HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

FACTS observed during the several expeditions to ascertain the sources of the Mississippi river in 1820, and in 1832, under the authority of the government, denote this stream to originate in the geological drift, or erratic block stratum, resting on silurian strata. This drift composes a wide crescent-shaped range of high lands, sweeping round from the Otter-tail lake to the sonrces of the St. Louis river of Lake Superior, which constitute the northern rim of the valley. It forms a well defined water-shed, which pours its drainage south into the Gulf of Mexico north into the great Lake Winnipek; and southeasterly into Lake Superior.. The French denominate it Hauteur des Terres. From the principal lake, which occupies its summit, it has, since the era of the last expedition referred to, been called the Itascan summit or water-shed. Mr. Nicollet who ascended it, in 1836, found its extreme altitude to be 1680 feet above the Gulf of Mexico.

The surface consists of immense heaps and wave-like deposits of oceanic sand, and comminuted sandstones and schists, with boulders of both the sedimentary and igneous rocks. Although the silurian series are generally concealed by these deep and wide-spreading deposits of the drift era, yet, they appear in horizontal positions at the Naiwa rapids at the foot of the Itascan range; on the Metoswa rapids, below Queen Anne's Lake; and, very distinctly at the Pakagama Falls, at the foot of the great sphagnous plateau below the inlet of Leech Lake river.

The whole column of formations is manifestly supported by the igneous group of rocks, heavy boulders of which lie tumbled together in many of the sub-valleys, as if they could not have been transported far from their parent beds. Whether the silurian strata be, however, imposed directly on the igneous, or exist in juxtaposition with them, is not certain. This only can be stated, in regard to the general arrangement, that in descending the channel of the Mississippi from Itasca Lake, the sandstones, grits, and quartzite are encountered at the localities mentioned. At a point, where the river has worn its channel 550 feet into the geological formations, (Dis. Sources Miss., p. 582,) the pyrogenous rocks are found in place, in its bed and on its banks. Such are the appearances near the influx of the river De Corbeau, in latitude 46°, and below that point. Rocks of igneous character have crossed the track of the Mississippi below this point-covering a belt of about one degree of latitude in width-that is to say, from the small river Nokasippi, near the Crow Wing branch, to the influx of the Sac or Osakis. Mr. Norwood, in his geological visit in 1848, did not find rocks in place above the De Corbeau, and did not

ascend the river above Sandy Lake inlet. (Owen's Geol. Rep. of '1852, p. 293.)

These preliminaries will enable the reader, better to comprehend the following remarks. In mere point of altitude, the Itasca summit is not above the coal measures on the Alleghanies, which, by the best atlases, do not exceed sixteen hundred feet. (Black's Atlas, Edin.) The basin of the Lake of the Woods, is, however, at a lower point, occupying one of the northern plataux of this continental water-shed. Reports of the existence of coal in this remote basin, while I resided in the West,-taken in connection with the specimens of its mineralogy, brought to me from time to time, by the aborigines, did not sustain the conclusion. Nothing of the kind had been observed by the Commissioners and Surveyors, acting under the treaty of Ghent, who visited the lake to establish the national boundary, in 1823. Among these officials, were Maj. Joseph Delafield of New York, and Dr. John Bigsby of Nottingham, England-both zealous students of natural history. The only rock-specimen brought to me by the aborigines, proved to be a species of black steatite, a material which is much valued, by them, in their pipe sculpture and this afforded no evidence of the propinquity of coal-bearing strata. Neither were such strata observed by the late Mr. Keating, who accompanied Maj. Long in his expedition through the lake in 1823.

The first evidence of the silurian rocks in that quater, comes from Dr. Richardson, who passed through that lake in 1848, in the search after Sir John Franklin. He observes that in crossing the pyrogenous summit* between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipek, in the direction of the Rainy Lakes, silurian strata occur on both flanks of it. He further observes, that Dr. John Bigsby presented a species of Pentamerus to the British Museum, which he had procured at the Lake of the Woods. He informs us that the eastern margin and island of that lake, are granitic, and hence infers, with good judgment, that Dr. Bigsby's fossil was probably found on an arm of its western coasts. (Arctic Searching Exp., p. 47)

It is on the western coast of this lake, that recent information of a reliable character assures me, that large deposits of coal exist. The formation lies south of the national boundary line of 49° which crosses the Portage du Rât.

It is not the result of experience, to pronounce a country absolutely barren of resources, which has an uninviting aspect, but which is at the same time, unexplored, or imperfectly explored. The importance of coal in that quarter of the continent can hardly be over estimated. Immense tracts of fertile plains, without forest or fuel, exist along the valley of Red River, at Pembina, and

He infers the summit to be a development of the beds of granite of the Thousand Islands, at the head of the St. Lawrence.

SECOND SERIES, Vol. XIX, No. 56.-March, 1855.

80

at points north of it, to which such a discovery must be of inestimable value. These extend south, quite to the St. Peters, or Minnesota, up to which, the transportation would be wholly by water. By the route of the Rainy Lakes, and the old Grand Portage to Pigeon River, the article could be readily introduced into the basin of Lake Superior for mining and smelting purposes. The absence of coal and the deficiency of wood in that quarter, now drives its ores and metallic masses to very distant points to be smelted.

Washington, Dec. 9, 1854.

MONTHS.

ART. XXIV.-Abstract of a Meteorologial Journal, for the Year 1854, kept at Marietta, Ohio; by S. P. HILDRETH, M.D.

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30 66 69 2 14 17 325 w. & s. w.
137-66 59 14 19 9 233 s. w., S. & E.
47:55 73 19 20 11 4 25 W. & N. W.
49.66 85 22 15 15 542 w., s. w., N. E.
62.50 95 34 20 11 212 S., N. & E.
70-33 93 43 19 11 366 W. & N. W.
76 66 98 56 28 3 204 s. w. & N. w.
73.66 95 50 26 5 366 N. W. & E.
69.96 97 42 24 6 216 w., N. w. & s.
5813 81 31 16 15 452 W., N. & E.
41.33 661 22 17 13 229 W. N. W.
32.2255 8 13 18 300
54.20
23113438 80

30:00 28.80 1.20) 29.80 28-80 1·00| 29.65 28-80 0-85 29·90 29-00 0·90 29 75 28-90 085 29:55 29-05 0 50 2960 29:35 0 25 29.55 29-35 0·20 29.88 29 12 0-76 29.80 28.85.0-95 29.85.28-55 1:30

N. W. & w. 29-70 28-90 080

Remarks on the year 1854.

'THE year just closed has been one that will long be remembered for several striking features; the most prominent of which were the long continued and excessive heat, accompanied by unexampled drought. No preceding year has witnessed such; embracing so vast an extent of country and so unremitting in severity. It ranged in longitude from the foot of the Rocky Mountains in the West, to the state of Maine in the East, and in latitude the region of country between the parallels of 32 and 42 degrees. In this space it was felt with the greatest severity; but varying somewhat in intensity, in different localities. The central portions of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio seem to have sustained the focus of its force. Collections of water, and the courses of rivers, apparently ameliorated its destructive effects, by attracting occasional

showers along their borders. This was evidently so in the southern portions of Ohio where showers were so distributed as to produce good crops of Indian corn; especially in the vicinity of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. In the hilly portions of the state, where the soil is argillaceous, and the ground not ploughed more than five or six inches deep, there was nearly an entire failure of this staple crop.

The superior advantages of deep and thorough tillage was never more strikingly seen than in the results of this year. The potato crop was a failure; as much from the excessive heat of the summer, as the drought; the tubers being in many instances partly cooked, becoming soft and spongy in texture. The result was the almost entire destruction of this important article of food, and raising the price to a higher figure than known since 1838, when the potato disease prevailed so extensively. The wheat crop was excellent over all the western states; having attained its growth before the severity of the drought commenced. In some districts the grain was entirely destroyed by insects; the wheat fly or miller (Tinea granella), a species different from the Hessian fly, or (Cecidomyia destructor) which attacks the plant in the culm, or stem near the ground; while the miller deposits its egg in the newly formed grain, and the larva eats and destroys the farinaceous portion, leaving only the cuticle, and the kernel an empty shell. If the season is cool the destruction is accomplished after the crop is reaped and stowed away in the stack or barn; but if the weather is quite hot, the mischief is done in the field, and thousands of acres this year, in the central portions of the state were left untouched by the sickle. The grass crop was good, attaining its growth before the want of rain was felt; but the pasturage in the latter part of the summer was a failure. Sweet potatoes, now an important crop in Southern Ohio, were less than usual in quantity, but of a most excellent quality. The long continued heat being congenial to their habit, and perfecting the saccharine portion of this delicious esculent, in an unusual degree. The fruit crop was rather a failure, small in amount, and inferior in quality. The heat changed winter apples into autumnal ones; causing them to decay at a much earlier period than heretofore.

The grape crop was less injured by the drought than almost any other; its greatest enemy was the Curculio; but yielded a fair average of fruit. As an evidence of the wonderful compensating power of Providence, in the laws which govern vegetation, by restoring the loss of one production in the increased amount of another, the natural fruits of the forest were unprecedented in amount and quantity. The golden age so much landed by the ancient poets, seemed about to be again restored, in the immense quantities of acorns and other nuts. Many oaks being so loaded with fruit as to bend the branches nearly to the earth. On these

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