SOME PECULIAR FOSSIL FORMS FROM MARYLAND 



By Wendell C. Mansfield, 



Of the United States Geological Survey 



The purpose of this paper is to call attention to some peculiar 

 spiral, nearly straight, and irregular objects, probably representing 

 the remains of fossil organisms, which were obtained from the low 

 bluffs along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, St. Marys 

 County, Md. 



In June, 1925, Dr. L, W. Stephenson collected four specimens of 

 the spiral forms from the bluif about 6i/^ miles south of Cedar Point, 

 one-third mile above the site of the old Langley homestead. As these 

 specimens elicited considerable interest, the writer visited this local- 

 ity and other localities in near-by bluffs during the following year. 



STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS 



In order to show the relationship of the bed in which these pecul- 

 iar specimens occur to other beds outcropping in the bluffs, several 

 stratigraphic sections are given below, and these are followed by 

 brief descriptions of the included formations. The first bluff, Lang- 

 leys Bluff, is about 25 feet high and one-third to half a mile long, 

 and exhibits the section given below. Some parts of this section are 

 obscured by a growth of vegetation. 



Section No. 1, Langleys Bluff, aiout S'Js^miles south of Cedar Point 

 Pleistocene : Feet 



5. Unfossiliferous cross-bedded buff sand and gravel with a water 



seepage along the base 4-15 



4. Uniformly deposited unfossiliferous dark-gray sandy clay with a 



pebbly band at the base 2 



3. Oyster zone — dark-colored sedimentary bed with inclusions of a 

 few small pebbles. No unconformity was observed between 



this bed and the underlying one 0-1 



2. Fossiliferous compact bluish sandy clay containing sandy pockets 

 or filled borings. A thin oyster zone is at the base. In this bed 

 are a few pebbles ranging up to 3 inches in diameter and 

 smoothly water-worn cobbles, which are most abundant at the 



contact with the underlying Miocene 6-8 



Unconformity. 

 Miocene : 



1. Sandy clay with Miocene (St. Marys) fossils 0-3 



No. 2688-PROCEEDINGS U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, VOL. 71, ART. 16. 



48182—27 1 1 



