THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 



189 



posed by many to have been distributed along shore by the Indians. Tliese abound 

 on the Patuxent, in St. Mary's county, as well as in many places tliroughout the 

 tertiary region of Maryland and Virginia. Major Southron, who resides below Bene- 

 diet, on tlie Patuxent, informs me that he has seen them in a bed ten feet thick ; 

 and on the Wicomico, it is said, they occur thirteen feet in thickness, covering many 

 acres. The objections to these being deposits by Indians are at least worthy of 

 notice, and may serve to stimulate inquiry. In tlie first place, the beds are of con. 

 siderablo extent, often at some distance from the water courses, and of no greater 

 variation in thickness than the marine deposits of the more ancient tertiaries. 

 Many entire shells are found among the unconnected valves. They are sometimes 

 imbedded in sand, and others in a black mould, such as would be formed by the 

 mud of estuaries mixed with lime, from the decomposing shells. These beds are 

 always beneath the soil covered originally by the forest. At Easton, on the Eastern 

 shore of Maryland, fragments of extinct species of Peeten are found among them. 

 On the south shore of Raritan bay, the shells occur in a regular stratum, generally in 

 single valves, mixed with an occasional specimen of Fulgur canaliculatus, just in 

 proportion to the living individuals of both species in Raritan bay. On the Chesa- 

 peake, below the Patuxent, they occur at least eight feet below the surface of the 

 country around, and were traced in a continuous deposit of nearly uniform thickness, 

 about four miles in extent. The position and character of these deposits correspond 

 with those of the Gnathodon on tlie Potomac, which might with just as much rea- 

 son be referred to Indian agency, as well as the immense accumulation of the same 

 shells for hundreds of miles along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, in 

 which it is said that Indian idols or small images have been found. Mr. Abel, who 

 resides above Town creek, on the Patuxent river, informs me, that oyster shells, 

 many of them with the valves in apposition, are found in his vicinity, in a bed two 

 feet thick, ten foet beneath the surface. I shall not at present pursue this subject, 

 intending to investigate it more leisurely at a future period, when I design to pub- 

 lish a more detailed history of these interesting beds. In conclusion, two important 

 deposits of the upper tertiary will be noticed. One on the Potomac, near its 

 junction with the Chesapeake bay, and the other on Neuse river, North-Carolina. 

 The first of these was described by me in 1830, in the journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, in which paper appeared the first attempt to clas - 

 sify and describe any of the tertiary formations of North- America. 



Section near the mouth of Potomac. 

 Elevation fifteen feet. 



('Iicsapeakc 



Ifoot 

 thick. 



8 feet 



above 



tide. 



Sand and gravel. 



Ostrca virginiana, Mytilus hamatus, (estuary deposit,) sand. 



( I'holus cosiala, Muclrii lalcruUs, 

 Clay wilh^ Area trausiuisa, i^ulccurtus caiibmus, ij-c, (ma. 

 t rine deposit.) 



