From this place all the strata, east of the soapstone, occasionally appear, for the distance of about three hundred feet. This is probably on account of their undulatory forms and horizontal position. Most of the way we find the lower part of the walls to consist of a kind of semi-indurated puddingstone. Sometimes a thin stratum of fine, loose sand occurs. At 300 feet the coal stratum disappears, passing below the bottom of the drift. The last hundred feet is chiefly gravel, which is now supported by timbers. _Southampton, Aug. 26, 1818._ ART. VII. _On the Peat of Dutchess County--read before the Lyceum of Natural History, in New-York, by the Rev._ F. C. SCHAEFFER, _of New-York, and by him communicated to the Editor_. In May, 1817, I brought specimens of marl and _peat_ from Dutchess county, which were taken from a fen or bog occupying an area of some acres. These fens occur frequently in the towns of Rhinebeck, Northeast, Clinton, &c. in Dutchess county. During a part of the year they are covered with water. A pit was dug in the bog from which I procured the specimens. The order and depth of the well-defined strata which were exhibited by this excavation, I noted in my memorandum book, from which I extract the following: After clearing away the fresh sod and recent vegetable mould, there appeared, 1. A stratum or bed of _peat_ commonly called _turf_, varying in depth from three to four feet. 2. A stratum of peat and marl commingled; depth two feet. 3. A stratum of pure marl, from two to three feet. Below these there was an appearance of sand and blue clay. The first, or upper stratum, consists of _compact peat_. This substance, when first taken up, is of a dark brown colour, soft, and rather viscid. Some vegetable fibres and vacuous seeds are distributed throughout the mass. It may be moulded to any convenient form. When perfectly dry, the texture of this variety, of which there is a specimen before you, acquires a high degree of solidity. Its fracture is earthy; the colour is lighter.