Donations to the Library: Bibliography of North American Conchology previous to the year 1860; by W. G. Binney, Parts 1 and 2, 8vo., Washington, 1864. Cretaceous Reptiles of the United States, by J. Leidy, 4to., Washington, 1866. Palæontology of the Upper Missouri; Invertebrates, by F. B. Meek and F. V. Hayden, Part 1, 4to., Washington, 1865. List of the Coleoptera of North America, by J. L. Leconte, M.D. Part 1, 8vo., Washington, 1863. Researches upon the Hydrobiinæ and allied forms, by Dr. W. Stimpson, 8vo., Washington, 1865. Monograph of American Corbiculadæ, recent and fossil, by Temple Prime, 8vo., Washington. Catalogue of Minerals, with their formulas, etc., by T. Egleston, 8vo., Washington, 1863. Land and Fresh-water Shells of North America, by W. G. Binney, Parts 2 and 3, 8vo., Washington, 1865. Check list of the Invertebrate Fossils of North America; Eocene and Oligocene, by T. A. Conrad; Cretaceous and Jurassic, by F. B. Meek, two 8vo. pamphlets, Washington, 1864-6.
All of the above were published and presented by the Smithsonian Institution.
Prof. W. P. Blake presented the following communication:
Miscellaneous Notices.
BY WILLIAM P. BLAKE,
Professor of Mineralogy, Geology, and Mining, Dept. Sci. Coll. of California.
I. NEW LOCALITY OF FOSSILS IN THE GOLD-BEARING ROCKS OF CALIFORNIA.
I have obtained specimens of Ammonites from the cut in the rocks on the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, about two miles below Colfax, and in the heart of the main gold belt of the State.
The rock is a compact argillite, somewhat altered and much discolored by the peroxydation of iron. The strata are boldly flexed and are interstratified with coarse grits and a thick bed of conglomerate, so much altered that the pebbles are homogeneously cemented.
The substance of the fossils has been removed by percolating waters, but very perfect casts of them remain and show the details of the external form, but do not permit the septæ to be seen. It is thus not possible, perhaps, to determine the specific characters; and considering, also, the absence of a typical collection and works of reference, I do not attempt a minute description, preferring to refer the specimens to a palæontologist. It may, however, be observed that the fossils are undoubtedly of the secondary period; and that they are apparently specifically identical with those from the American river, in the same vicinity, of which I sent photographs to Mr. Meek, at the Smithsonian Institution, in 1863, and afterwards noticed at one of the meetings of this Academy, in September, 1864. They are, also, apparently identical with the species found in the Bear Valley, Mariposa, slates. If this species has not been already named, I desire to connect with it the name of Mr. Spear, in whose cabinet at Georgetown, the earliest specimen was carefully preserved. I obtained one specimen at the locality, and another was presented to me by Mr. Richard Carroll, it having been saved by the quarry-men, under the impression that it was a petrified rattlesnake. It is about six inches in its longest diameter, being elliptical and evidently distorted by lateral pressure.