THE LOESS OF NATCHEZ, MISS. 32 I 



Whatsoever may be the difference of opinion concerning 

 the soundness of the foregoing conclusions, the loess of Nat- 

 chez materially reinforces the evidence against the possibility 

 of the aqueous origin of the loess, and practically renders the 

 theory of glacial origin untenable. 



The writer desires here to express his obligations to Presi- 

 dent Fish of the Illinois Central R. R. and Prof. Samuel Cal- 

 vin of the Iowa Geological Survey, whose kindly courtesy 

 made the preparation and public ition of this paper possible. 



Since the publication of the foregoing paper the writer has 

 obtained other papers on southern loess, in which references 

 to fresh-water shells are made. 



The earliest of these is by Dr. Amos Binney,* who discussed 

 the loess of Natchez as followsrf 



"It is made up of nearly parallel strata of calcareous loam, 

 clays, sands and gravels, which contain in the different lay- 

 ers, besides inorganic substances, great numbers of terrestrial, 

 and some fluviatile, shells, remains of mammalia, and numer- 

 ous water-worn, agatized pebbles, imbedding corals, madre- 

 pores, encrinites, and marine shells. The most remarkable 

 portion of the formation is the upper bed, or that next below 

 the soil of the surface. It consists of a yellowish calcareous 

 loam, thickly filled in many places with terrestrial shells, and 

 in others, with a few fluviatile species. The depth or thick- 

 ness of this bed is described to be from twenty to fifty feet. 

 Below the loam is a bed of light ash-colored marl, containing 

 fluviatile shells, and having a thickness of from five to ten 

 feet; this with only an intervening stratum of fine gravel, is 

 succeeded by a bed of sandy loam, from twenty to thirty feet 

 in thickness, containing- bones of the mastodon." 



*Proc. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist., vol. II, pp. 126-130; read April 1, 

 1846, published in July, 1846. 

 tPp. 126-7, 1 c. 



