321 



There is now in possession of a gentleman in this city, a vertebral 

 bone of enormous size, said to have been found, many years ago, upon 

 the St. Joseph River, and which is pronounced by the State Zoologist, 

 Dr. Sager, to be the caudal vertebra of a whale. It measures in verti- 

 cal diameter, including spinous process, 18 inches; transvei-se diameter, 

 including lateral processe.s, 2 feet; diameter of body, 11 inches; length 

 of body 10^ inches; length of spinous process, 9 inches. Its weight 

 is 21 lbs., which is probably less than one-half its original weight, as 

 the bone is partially decayed. 



TERTIARY CLAT8. 



These extensive deposits belong to an era subsequent to the removal 

 of the upper coal bearing rocks. They cover all the border counties on 

 the east and west slopes of the Peninsula, and in some instances, stretch 

 far inland. These clays extend over more than two-thirds of that part 

 of the State which lies south of Saginaw, Maple, and Grand Rivers, 

 embracing nearly the whole of the counties of Ottawa, Allegan, Van 

 Buren, Berrien, Monroe, Wayne, Macomb, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, 

 Tuscola, Saginaw, Lapeer, Clinton and Eaton, and a large portion of 

 Ingham, Genesee, Shiawassee, Ionia, Kent, St. Joseph, Branch, Hillsdale 

 and Lenawee. The remaining portions of the counties last named, and 

 very nearly the whole of Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw, Jackson, 

 Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Casa, are destitute of the sub-clay formation, 

 and the diluviums rest immediately upon the rocks. 



A dense growth of timber almost invariably accompanies this forma- 

 ation, whatever may be the immediate soil. We find this observation 

 applicable to large portions of Eaton, Ingham, Clinton, Shiawassee and 

 Genesee counties, though these counties are based in part on the sand- 

 stone rocks of the coal series, and have sandy, diluvial soils; while the 

 sandstone country south of them, presents little else than oak openings 

 and plains. 



These clays are an extension of the same formation which covers the 

 •western and northern portion of Ohio, and the east and north of Indir 

 ana, and which constitutes the soil of. a large portion of those districts. 



The upper portion is a gravelly yellowish clay, varying in thickness 



from one to fifteen feet, and baving an average probably not exceeding 



five feet. Beneath this is a similar clay, of a blue'color, and which in 



some places has been found to exceed in thickness one hundred and 



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