Suburban Geology of Richmond, Indiana. 



285 



Bones of a Snake. — The larger fissures of this formation are 

 sometimes thickly lined and even filled with stalagmite, a con- 

 siderable mass of which was thrown out from a quarry seventy 

 or eighty feet above the level of the river, containing numerous 

 vertebra and ribs of a snake. Most of these bones had lost their 

 natural connection and were scattered through the stalagmite. 

 They were not abraded, but all the processes, canals, and articu- 

 lating surfaces were perfect. The bones were however so nearly 

 decomposed that they could be easily crushed ; and from the 

 dryness of the quarry and the thickness of the stalagmite, as well 

 as the friable condition of the vertebras and ribs, they may claim 

 considerable antiquity. A comparison of one of these vertebrae 

 with the largest vertebra of a Coluber two feet long, would give 



to the animal a length of six or eight feet, provided the number 



of vertebras was nearly equal in both. Previous to opening the 

 quarry, the rock was completely covered by soil, and there was 

 no apparent access to the fissure in which the stalagmite was found. 

 Channels of ancient streams filled up with diluvium. — The cut 

 through this formation for the passage of the national road, ex- 

 poses the beds of no less than three small streams, which appear 

 to have run parallel with the present one, and are now covered 

 by a thick deposit of diluvium. The section of the largest one, 

 which is on the west side of the river, presents the following ap- 

 pearance on the north side of the road. 



Fig. 3. 



r, level of the road, s, smoothed surface of the rocks, w, marlitic rocks, d, 

 diluvium. J, dark colored silt. 



The bed of this ancient stream is about four hundred feet from 

 the escarpment of the present river, whose waters flow nearly 

 twelve fathoms below, in perpendicular measurement. The road 

 ascends gently in the direction towards r. The silt is six feet 

 deep, and consists of a dark bluish earth, strongly contrasting 

 with the yellowish diluvial clay above it. This silt contains no 

 bowlders, but pockets of coarse sand, and pebbles of various sizes 

 are found in it. I collected some of the gravel, and it proved to 



