334 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Nov. 



proper treat inent, would interest an enthusiast. Every 

 diatomist knows what it is to run harren muds and clays 

 through analysis and have in return disappointment. 

 Some time after its receipt, Rev. Mr. Carter replied that 

 much valuahle time had been lost by him in its treatment, 

 as he got nothing out of it for his pains. On my part I 

 regretted this result, hut about a year or so later, I was 

 testing the identical material as sent to him from the lo- 

 cality of Andalusia, Covington Co., Ala., when I found 

 that "in every small cleaning made by myself, there was 

 to be found a small uniquely shaped diatom of the Tricer- 

 atium species. 



Later, finding it had not been described or figured 

 among the seventy-five species of known Triceratium 

 listed in WoUe's Diatomacea? of North America, which 

 list as stated in his work included all known North 

 American diatoms figured up to the date of publication, 

 1892, I determined to figure and describe it and place it 

 upon record. I called it Triceratium zabriskiei. I sent 

 a sample specimen of the chalk, a drawn figure of the 

 diatom, and a slide preparation showing four of the Tri- 

 ceratium zabriskiei, along with the radiolarian and 

 spicular fossils of the deposit, to the New York Microsco])- 

 ical Society, and added a description of its specific 

 characters. The diatom as named and submitted by me 

 was referred to in the Journal of the New York Microsco]>- 

 ical Society, which fact fulfilled all the requirements 

 that I had in view in naming it. 



E. Thum's catalogue of 1895 enumerates three hun- 

 dred and sixteen species of Triceratia in his stock of 

 slides, while Wolle figured about seventy-five as the limit 

 of known North American species. It looked a little rash 

 to add a new name to the list of species, but a peculiarity 

 of the Southern Radiolarian deposits will save this 

 diatom from being confused with the European, Asiatic 

 or African species already listed. 



