178 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



preserved in the position they occupied when living, having both valves entire 

 and perfect, and presenting tbe appearance of having been destroyed suddenly 

 by an avalanche of sand. 



The second, is the blue or pluff-mud bed, composed of a stiff blue clay, con- 

 taining silicious pebbles, and masses of conglomerates, water-worn and boulder- 

 like, but no angular blocks, and also remains of marine and terrestrial animals. 

 These pebbles and rolled conglomerates contain casts of the fossils common to 

 the marl of the Eocene bed upon which the blue mud rests, and it has been 

 ascertained that the silicious conglomerates are fragments of the marl, broken 

 off, we infer, by the action of waves, and rolled upon the beach of a post-plio- 

 cene sea ; they afterwards were imbedded in the blue mud, lost all their lime 

 or calcareous particles, and became silicified. 



The third or upper bed includes the peaty deposits, yellow sand and clays, 

 which overlie the pluff-mud. 



Sections of the three most important localities may be represented in the 

 following diagrams : 



Marine bed of the Wadmalarr. 



Yellow Sand 15 feet. 



Ferruginous sand with casts of shells 2 feet. 



Red clay 2 feet. 



Gray sand and mud with comminuted shells, fossils in fine preservation. .3^ feet. 



Ashley River beds. 

 Yellow sands with bands of Ferruginous clay 4 feet. 



Blue mud resting on the white Eocene marl 1 foot. 



Goose Creek beds. 

 Yellow sand 12 feet. 



Blue mud 2 feet. 



Ferruginous sand containing bones, etc .3 inches- 



Yellow sand 3 feet. 



Pliocene marl resting on the Eocene white marl 12 feet. 



The fossil bones obtained from these strata are often in a fine state of pre- 

 servation, especially those taken from the blue mud, which are generally petri- 

 fied ; those from the sands are likewise well preserved, but in the peaty or 

 upper beds they are not so petrified, retain all their gelatine and appear to de- 

 compose rapidly. Most of the specimens in the collection now before you 

 were some time ago submitted by me to jour distinguished anatomist Professor 

 Leidy, for determination. When they were returned I found a number labelled 

 recent, which labels you will find still retained and attached to their respective 

 specimens ; at the same time the Professor wrote to say, "that they appeared to 

 belong to recent sp'^ies which had become accidental occupants of the same 

 bed with the true fossils." I held tbe opposite opinion, and believed that they 

 were true fossil remains, as I had myself collected them, not only from the 

 banks and deltas of rivers, but a large number from excavations several feet 

 below the surface, at a distanc. rrom any ereek, pond or river, and in some 

 cases from excavations below the high sandy land of cotton fields. 



But a few weeks ago Dr. Klipstein, who resides near Charleston, in digging a 

 ditch for the purpose of reclaiming a large swamp, discovered and sent me the 

 tooth of a mastodon, one of the black specimens in the tray before you, with 

 the request that I should go down and visit the place, as there were indications 



[July, 





