sa 
And the “ Great Carolina Marl bed.” 41 
THE FISH-BED OF THE ASHLEY. 
The idea prevails that the “ Fish-bed” of the Ash- 
ley Basin alluded to in Professor Tuomey’s Geological 
Report, is the Phosphate-rock stratum with its asso- 
ciated teeth and bones. This is an error into which 
many have been led. In Professor Tuomey’s Report, 
p. 165, he writes: “ The most remarkable feature in 
the Fauna of the period of the deposition of these 
beds was the vast number of cartilaginous fishes. It 
would seem as if about the close of the Eocene period 
these voracious monsters, conscious of their approach- 
ing end, had congregated here to die, and it is no 
exaggeration to say that more than a bushel of fishes’ 
teeth have been collected at Ashley Ferry within the 
last few years. I have visited the locality several 
times and never without finding a large number of 
specimens. As the War/ is washed away by the river 
and tides, the fossils are left exposed at low water, 
and in this way the locality appears almost inexhaus- 
tible and well deserves the name of the “ Fish-bed of 
the Charleston Basin.” 
The surface or upper Marl beds are here alluded to, 
that is to say the Ashley-Marl and Sands, and not the 
overlying Phosphate-rock bed. 
The “Fish-bed” of the Ashley had been thus 
named by us before Mr. Tuomey had visited South 
Carolina. In the above he only expresses his 
approval of the name given it. 
At that time Professor Agassiz had not been on 
the Ashley. 
