166 WALKS AND TALKS. 



cago. The vertebrae of this curious whale are found strewn 

 over the corn and cotton fields of Southern Alabama. I have 

 seen them used for andirons in the rude fireplaces of the 

 country, and set for steps of a stile over the front fence of 

 the door yard. 



The region underlaid by the Eocene abounds in shells and 

 corals and fish-teeth washed out by the weather. The strata 

 are mostly friable, and some almost incoherent. The rivers 

 and creeks have excavated deep channels, and thus caused 

 many fine exposures. The most celebrated river bluffs in the 

 Alabama and Mississippi Eocene are at Claiborne, St. Stephens, 

 and Vicksburg. All these localities abound in fossils, but 

 especially the first and last named ; and the fossils exist in a 

 perfect state of preservation. At St. Stephens we find the 

 "White Limestone" which incloses the remains of Zeuglodon. 

 Eocene fossils are found in great abundance also, along all 

 the creeks and ravines, and by the road sides. I congratulate 

 the reader who resides in those regions, since his opportunities 

 for field study are almost un equaled. 



For many, the remains inclosed in the fresh-water Eocene 

 of our western territories possess still greater interest; for 

 they are the bones and teeth of strange and often gigantic 

 quadrupeds which dwelt on the land. In the south-western 

 part of Wyoming, and extending south to the Uinta mount- 

 ains, is a great expanse of such strata. On the south of the 

 Uinta mountains is another, extending south-eastward into 

 Colorado, and south and south-westward into Central Utah. 

 Another vast Eocene region stretches from southern Colorado 

 into New Mexico. It is chiefly from the Eocene of Wyom- 

 ing that Professor Marsh obtained the mammalian bones 

 which, during many years back, he has described for the 

 astonishment of the world. Some very unique material, how- 

 ever, was procured in Oregon. The equal work performed 

 by Professor Cope, has also been based partly on specimens 

 from Wyoming, but more largely on material from New 

 Mexico and Texas. These wide, western regions pastured 

 herds of herbivores in the early Tertiary time, as they have 



