52 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Feb. 



Fossil Marine Bacillariaceae on Long Island, N. Y. 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D. 



NEWARK, N. J. 



The occurrence of fossil marine BacillariacesB on Long 

 Island, N. Y., was looked for by Diatomists for a long time. 

 Ever since they were found at Atlantic City, N. J., by 

 L. Woolman they have been sought for on Staten Island, 

 N. Y., and on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and at Coney 

 Island, Long Island, N. Y., in vain. Three years ago I 

 searched the sands of Coney Island and although an open- 

 ing had been made to dig for the railroad, a soil was 

 turned up which looked like the promised thing, but it 

 was not Bacillarian. I kept a sharp lookout and when- 

 ever I could went down there from where I resided, but 

 openings were not made through the white siliceous sand 

 of the islands and promentories of Long Island. I visited 

 Staten Island several times always in search for the " In- 

 fusorial earth." It is true that at a place known as 

 Folley's on South Beach, Staten Island, N. Y., they were 

 digging a dyke through the marsh. It was over two feet 

 deep and I got the clay from the bottom and searched it 

 by means of the microscope. It was Bacillarian but 

 the forms in it were not marine enough to satisfy me. 

 It was a grey mud and although it seemed lower than 

 the Newark meadows, which I thought was raised coast, 

 it did resemble the Infusorial earth I was in search of at 

 New Haven. The blue clay from the bottom of the 

 hollows was more promising but I placed it in the lower 

 raised coast period, the Champlain (with a query). At 

 Pamrapo, New York harbor, the mud was grey clay and 

 seemed to be the same. Until this summer I have not 

 found the fossil marine BacillariacesB, the '' Infusorial 

 earth," any farther North than Atlantic City, N. J. 

 When building the tunnel that it is intended to connect 

 Hoboken, N. J., with New York they came upon a grey 



