28 



Numbers were thrown up in excavating the Santee canal, 

 and f romits abundance in South Carolina, I have given the spe- 

 cific name of Carolineusis. As I have not seen it in situ, and 

 am ignorent of its accompanying fossils, I cannot positively re- 

 fer it to the Middle Tertiary, to which it probably belongs. 



OSTREA VIRGIN I AN A, VAR. Tab. 14, fig. 2. 



Obovate, profoundly plicated, and with concentric imbricated 

 lamina", superior valve flat, plicated, beaks laterally curved. 



Syn-. OSTREA VIRGINIANA, Gmcl. 



OSTREA VIRGINICA, Lam. An. sans vert, v. 6, p. 207. 



Locality. Suffolk, Va. Upper Tertiary. 



A common variety of this species, both in a recent and fossil 

 state, and fine specimens of the former may be obtained on the 

 coast of New Jersey. 



As a fossil, the O. Virginiana is no less variable than when 

 recent, and occurs in a. stratum with but little intermixture of 

 other shells, which, wherever found, constitutes the superior 

 bed of the formation it belongs to, although detached shells may 

 be taken from any portion of the various deposits. Even in 

 the Cray it exhibits the same relative position, and seems to 

 have been the last bed deposited by the waters of the retiring 

 ocean. The town of Easton, on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 

 land, stands upon a bank of these oyster shells, which in many 

 places in the vicinity of the town, may be seen, very entire, 

 and mingled with the superficial soil ; beneath them are the Ter T 

 tiary marls, containing the usual characteristic species, but so 

 far decomposed as to be scarcely recognizable. This species 

 is also found in various parts of Europe, and is considered by 

 Brongniart as a characteristic fossil. 



A very- large oyster, probably identical with the present, ex- 

 tends in a continuous bed through South Carolina, Georgia, Al- 

 abama, and Mississippi. Mr. Finch considers this a distinct 

 formation, and terms it Calcaire Ostree; but before we adopt it as 

 such, it is necessary that it should -be carefully examined, and 

 therefore a detailed account of it will be reserved for a future 

 number of this work. 



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