INTRODUCTION. 21 



level. Mr Conrad has examined this deposit, and says, 

 " not only are the fossils of this locality the same as ex- 

 isting species, but, in some instances, they retain their 

 colour."* Of those in his table, consisting of twenty-nine 

 species found there, he has been able to recognise all but 

 seven as existing in a recent state, and the most of these will, 

 I have no doubt, be hereafter found on our coasts. One of 

 them, the Cytherea convexa, may already be removed from 

 the exceptions. I owe to the kindness of Colonel Totten, 

 of the engineer corps, specimens of this species, from the 

 coast near Newport, Rhode Island. A deposit of this 

 epoch is also found beneath the surface at Charleston, 

 S. C. Professor Vanuxem gave me specimens taken from 

 a well of that city, some of which are so fresh as still to 

 exhibit the original colours. They consist of the genera 

 #rca, Jlmphidesma, Clathradon, Maclra, Tellina, Margi- 

 nella, Fusus, Oliva, &c. 



The rich and highly interesting Formation at Claiborne, 

 Alabama, was called to my attention by my friend, Judge 

 Tait, a citizen of that place, in January 1829. The beau- 

 tiful specimens he sent me at the close of the year, in- 

 duced me to obtain from him further shipments of the 

 fossils from the same stratum, and specimens from the 

 inferior and superior strata, as well as some account of the 

 geographical position of the place. 



In his letter of July 20, 1831, he says, "the town of 

 Claiborne is built on a bluff, on the east, or south side of the 

 Alabama river. In a direct line, it is about ninety miles 

 from the gulf of Mexico. The bluff is estimated to be 

 two hundred feet high. It is at least that. That Forma- 



* Journal of the Academy of Natural Science of Philad., vol. 6, p. 207. 



