THE NAUTILUS. 



VOL. XXVIII. DECEMBER, 1914. No. 8 



TERTIARY FOSSILS ON LONG ISLAND. 



BY L. P. GRATACAP. 



Myron L. Fuller in his Geology of Long Island 'p. 79) writes: 

 "Long Island has never yielded any fossils of Tertiary Age, 

 the diatoms from Rockway and elsewhere described by A. M. 

 Edwards, being from deposits that are clearl}- interglacial or 

 post-glacial." 



Mr. Thomas C. Topping of Bridghampton, Long Island, a 

 highway commissioner, in digging out the side of a bare hill to 

 widen a road, six miles east of the village of Southampton, 

 lately uncovered some fossil shells, which interested him, and 

 were b}' him given to Mr. William S. Pelletreau, the historian 

 of Southampton. 



The shells taken from a light yellow sandy marl, at a depth 

 of eight to ten feet below the surface, were in excellent preserva- 

 tion, and unmistakably of tertiary origin. The locality is 

 three or four miles from the sea, and has an approximate eleva- 

 tion of seventy five feet above high tide water-mark. 



The shells were kindly shown to me by Mr. Pelletreau who 

 recognized their interest. They consist entirely of Areas, and 

 number in all twelve separate valves. There are ten valves of 

 Area (Scapharca} transversa Say and two of Area limula Conrad. 



