14 



History of Hingham. 



Formations. 



CJENOZOIC 

 TIME. 

 Tertiary Age. 

 Laramie Pe- 

 riod (or Lig- 

 nitieP.). 



Note. — This period 

 is included by some 

 geologists in the Cre- 

 taceous of Mesozoic 

 Time. 



Alabama Period 

 (same as Eocene). 



General Remarks. 



Orders Orthoptera, Neurop- 

 tera, Hemiptera, Hymenop- 

 tera, Coleoptera, JJiptera, 

 and Lepidoptera. 



Plants : 



The deposits of this pe- 

 riod yield great num- 

 bers of the leaves of 

 Augiosperms, — species 

 of oak, poplar, maple, 

 hickory, fig, magnolia, 

 and others ; also of Con- 

 ifers and palms. Nuts 

 of some species are 

 common. 



Animals : 



Freshwater shells and 

 some manine species. 

 No mammals. Pishes 

 and Reptiles have been 

 found in the Laramie 

 beds. 



Plants : 



Trees mostly of the 

 same genera as those of 

 the present period. 

 The infusorial deposits 

 near Richmond, Va , 

 yield a large number of 

 species of Diatoms. 



Animals: 



The remains, vertebra;, 

 and teeth, in great num- 

 bers, of a large animal 

 allied to a whale, called 

 the Zeuglodon Cetoides, 

 are found in the de- 

 posits of this period in 

 the States of Georgia, 

 South Carolina, Mis- 

 sissippi, and Alabama. 

 The animal was at least 

 seventy feet in length 



In beds of this period in the 

 west are found remains 

 of species similar to 

 those of the present, as 

 the rhinoceros, Mexican 

 wild boar, horse, mon- 

 key, and others, among 

 them the earliest of the 

 squirrels. Of the birds, 

 one species from the 

 Eocene of New Mexico 

 was larger than the 

 ostrich. 



the climates and a general de- 

 struction of the life then existing 

 upon or near the surface in both 

 hemispheres. 



Estuary deposits in Mississippi, in 

 the region of the Upper Missouri, 

 in the Rocky Mountain region, 

 and at Brandon, Vt. 



Called the Lignitic Period because 

 of the prevalence of Lignitic beds 

 in the deposits. 



Great disturbance of the surface in 

 North America at the close of 

 this period, that led to the eleva- 

 tion of mountains in California, 

 which, increased undoubtedly by 

 subsequent movements, are now 

 4,000 feet high. 



Further disturbances at the close 

 of this period, raising the bor- 

 ders of the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 probablv elevating above the pre- 

 vious height the Rocky Mountain 

 region. 



