SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF EXPLORATIONS BY THE U. S. FISH COM- 

 MISSION STEAMER ALBATROSS. 



(Published by permission of Hon. Marshall McDonald, D. S. Commissioner of Fisheries.l 



No. X.— ON CERTAIN MESOZOIC FOSSILS FROM THE ISLANDS OF ST. 

 PAUL'S AND ST. PETER'S, IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. 



BY 



Charles A. White, 



Honorary Curator of the Department of Mesozoic Fossils. 

 (WitU Plates II, III.) 



The fossils which are noticed iu this article were collected by mem- 

 bers of the U. S. Fish Commission upon the voyage of the Albatross, 

 1887-'8S, aud submitted to me for examination by the Commissioner, 

 Col. Marshall McDonald. They are all in a bad state of preservation^ 

 most of them being fragmentary. I have been able to recognize only 

 two species, one of which is an aberrant form of the Cephalopotls, be- 

 longing either to the genus Ancyloceras or Hamites, apparently to the 

 latter. The other is a bivalve shell, having the general aspect of a VenuSj 

 but which possesses some of the distinguishing features of Lucina. 



The presence of the Cephalopod just mentioned seems to leave n(r 

 room for doubt that the strata from which these fossils were obtained 

 are of Mesozoic age, and they are referred to the Cretaceous with little 

 or no hesitation. The shell provisionally referred to Lucina seems to 

 have a Tertiary aspect, but assuming that it was found associated with 

 the Hamites, it also referred to the Cretaceous. Following are descrip- 

 tions and figures of the two species which have been recognized: 



CEPHALOPODA. 



Geuus Hamites Parkinson. 

 Hamites elatior Forbes? 

 [Plate II, Fiss. 1 and 2.] 



Samites elatior ForWes, Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Dar- 

 win, p. 265. 



The original specimens which were described by Forbes were col- 

 lected by Darwin at " Port Famine, Tierra del Fuego." They are not 

 figured by Forbes, but from his description they seem to be specifically 

 identical with those which were obtained in the Straits of Magellan. 



Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII — No. 793. 



