NATURAL HISTORY. 



19 



MAP OF CH.4.RL0TTE. 



FOSSIL WHALE. 



the track: the southern MAP OF CHARLOTTE, 



road crosses on a level with 

 the track. The accompa- 

 nying cut exhibits a section 

 along the east side of the 

 excavation, in which the 

 bones were found. The 

 surface of the ground slopes 

 to the south, and, to the 

 depth of four feet, consists 

 principally of sand, showing 

 no signs of stratification. 

 Next, below this, is a mix- 

 ture of sand and clay, finely 

 and regularly stratified, for 

 a depth of 2^ feet, below 

 which is a vast bed of fine 

 blue clay, in which were 

 observed no signs of strati- 

 fication, and which appears 

 to have been, previous to the deposit of the stratified sand and clay above it, an exten- 

 sive quagmire. 



SECTION. A and C denote the points where the two 



roads, above mentioned, cross the raih'oad ; 

 A the northern road, and C the southei'n, 

 and the line A G the distance between the 

 c roads. From C to B, the railroad track 

 is on the level of the natural surface of the earth ; and from B to A at the bottom of the 

 excavation in the clay bed. D indicates the point in the line of the road, where the 

 fossil bones were found. 



The fossil bones were embedded in this 

 clay, at an average depth below its surface of 

 nearly two feet. The head of the skeleton 

 was towards the northwest, was lowest, and 



was nearly on a level with the railway, 

 while the posterior parts extended obliquely 

 into the bank, towards the southeast. In 

 the blue clay, with the bones, were found 



