Read before the Academy of Natural Sciences 
of Philadelphia, 27th August 1833. 
In presenting myself to the Academy this evening, with 
a paper on a geological subject, my first duty is to make my 
acknowledgements to the very great kindness of the gentle- 
man who has, during some years of labour, placed in my 
possession numerous fossils from the vicinity of Claiborne, 
Alabama, most of which I have discovered to be new spe- 
cies. As early asin January 1829, Judge Tait first called 
my attention to the existence of the “organic remains 
that abound in that part of the state,” promising me at the 
same time, to make a collection of them and to forward 
them to me. This promise he redeemed at the close of 
the year, by sending me a large quantity of the most inter- 
esting Tertiary fossils. Finding in the same box speci- 
mens which I suspected to be of secondary origin, I wrote 
for, and subsequently obtained from my friend, a complete 
suite of specimens of the various strata at Claiborne, with 
valuable notes and observations from his pen. These 
were sent in July 1831. Unwearied in his efforts to place 
in my possession every thing that could illustrate the de- 
posits of his vicinity, that gentleman subsequently, and at 
different times, with continued kindness, sent me three or 
