OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 169 
It is obvious, from this list of silicified shells, that the Buhr-stone formation of South Carolina is 
the equivalent of the great fossilliferous bed at Claibome, and not of the overlying red loam, as 
Mr. Lyell suggests. 
The organic forms common to the calcareous beds of the Charleston Basin and the “ Orbitoidal” 
limestone of Alabama, are not numerous: they are as follows. 
Zeuglodon. 
Nautilus Alabamensis, O. Selleformis, 
Pecten perplanus, “ panda, 
“ _ealvatus, Scutella Lyelli. 
There are other fossils mentioned as common to these beds, but I have not found them in South 
Carolina. 
FossiLs COMMON TO THE CRETACEOUS AND Eocene FORMATIONS. 
It has already been stated that, mineralogically, a great difference exists between the Eocene of 
South Carolina and the contemporaneous beds of Virginia and Maryland. This difference consists 
in the great amount of carbonate of lime present in the formation towards the South. The white 
limestone and marls of South Carolina present a striking contrast with the gray or greenish marls 
of Virginia and Maryland. The nearest approach, in mineral character, to the Southern marls, was 
found at Timber Creek, New Jersey. The fossils of South Carolina were but little known: the 
few that were collected had scarcely any representatives in the better known beds of the States 
before mentioned, and the calcareous strata of the South were referred to the upper part of the 
Cretaceous formation—not more, I apprehend, because of identity of organic remains, than that 
they differed from known Eocene forms. At all events the beds in question were pronounced 
Upper Cretaceous, or beds that were supposed to be intermediate between the two formations—the 
Eocene and Cretaceous—and to contain fossils common to both. 
It was thus that Mx. Lyell found things here on his visit. He passed over the entire length of 
the ‘Vertiary formation of South Carolina, and traced its upper verge for a considerable distance 
towards the Savannah, and although he collected fossils with a degree of industry and care that 
those only who have gone over the same ground after him can understand, yet, owing to the few 
artificial excavations that then existed, he didnot find a single true Cretaceous fossil. The result 
was that the so called Upper Cretaceous fossils were referred to the Eocene, together with the beds 
that enclose them. 
Whoever looks at the list of fossils that I have presented from this formation, will, 1 am sure, 
refer the whole to our Eocene ; nevertheless, there are among them a few Cretaceous fossils. 
Iam not a little surprised that Gryphea mutabilis,* Mort. should have escaped notice, for it is 
met with in all the beds. It is quite a variable fossil, like most of its congeners: it is a large fossil, 
in the Cretaceous beds of Delaware and North Carolina; on the Santee it is pretty large, but 
becomes quite small in the Ashley beds. 
* This fossil is sometimes referred to O. yesicularis and O. Nilsoni, of Europe, but this does not affect the question as to its 
distribution. 
