us 



formation, and also upon the margin of the primitive 

 district, as well as at low water, or nearly on the pre- 

 sent level of the ocean ? If fishes existed before this 

 alluvial deposite, which must have been the case, as 

 they are now found below it, in what appears to have 

 been the ancient bed of the ocean, they must necessa- 

 rily have existed during, as well as subsequently to, 

 this deposite of alluvion : therefore we might reasona- 

 bly expect to find them throughout the entire depth of 

 this district ; but this is not the case. 



Thirdly, If the district in question were formed by 

 deposites from the ocean, by which the fishes and 

 other marine animals were buried ; why is it that we 

 cannot discover any of their remains, within a consi- 

 derable distance of the primitive district, or granite 

 ridge, which must be allowed by all, to have been the 

 ancient border of the ocean, and at present the northern 

 boundary of the alluvial region ? 



From the best information that I can obtain, no re- 

 mains of fishes, (those of shell fish excepted,) have as 

 yet been found to the northward of the Chesapeake 

 bay, within about twenty or twenty-five miles of the 

 granite ridge. It is, I believe, at about the same dis- 

 tance, that they are found in Maryland. In Virginia, 

 they are found within a shorter distance ; and as we 

 advance to the southward, the distance from the pri- 

 mitive range seems to be still less. 



To what this circumstance can be owing, I am un- 

 able to tell ; unless, as we advance towards the gulf 

 of Mexico, the waters of this part of the district were. 



