178 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [June 



est as it is ratb(^r slow in itsiiction. It seems to be es- 

 sential in inii»i()viny' the aj)peaiance of the prei)arati()ns. 



During the course ol' my studies of this new (le[)08it 1 

 made sketches of all the forms fotind in the material in 

 the hope of being able to identify th(! various s})ecies, 

 but 1 found that it was a hopeless task to i(h'utiry the 

 majority of the species with certainty. 1 had availal)le 

 one Moller Type Plate, one Getchsman Type Plate, cov- 

 ering some five hundred species, Kain's Blue })riut cojjy 

 of Adolf Schmidt's Atlas (80 plates only) and Wolle's 

 Diatomacea' of North America. All of these were only 

 serviceable as giving the genera alone. The identilica- 

 tion of the species with their aid was impracticable. 

 The identification of a species involves the highest criti- 

 cal skill, as indicated in the critical notes attached to 

 Schmidt's figures. So I leaver the determination of the 

 species characterizing the Suggesville deposit to those 

 who have a genius ibr su< h work. 



Immediately on determining that 1 had found an inter- 

 esting and new deposit with uniamiliar North American 

 species I at once forwarded to Mr. J. Tempere, of Paris, 

 a specimen of the new earth. He rei)lied 'Jiat he had 

 received the material, and thai lie would clean it, and 

 send m«' a list of the species containtMl in the same. Si.x 

 months have ela[)sed and notliing in reference to the 

 deposit has been rectdved from him. This may show that 

 it takes time to determine with accuracy the s[»ecies in 

 an unfamiliar deposit. 



Incidentally there is an elem«Mit of scientific romance 

 connected with the Suggsville find \vhi<di may he stated 

 in thiswise: Some ten or more ytvars ago a letter came 

 to me from the Alabama State Geologist, Dr. K. A. Smith, 

 enclosing a letter of inquiry to him from an Atlantic 

 Coast Geologist. It asked whelhci- there was a know n 

 fossil .Marine Diatomaceous deposit within tlie hounds of 

 Alabama. The party writing was inteicsted in the sub- 



