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THE PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS 



OF SANKOTY HEAD, NANTUCKET, 



AND THEIR FOSSILS. 



CONTENTS : 



I. Historical Summary. . . . . p. 3. 



II. The Exposed Cliff Section. . . . p. 6. 



III. The Occurrence of the Fossils. . . . p. 8. 



IV. Systematic List of the Fossils. . . . p. 9. 



V. Literature Relating to the Sankoty Deposits . p. 20. 



I. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



The earliest record of the fossiliferous beds at Sankoty Head 

 appears to be that of Desor. In 1848 he visited the eastern por- 

 tion of the island in company with Lieutenant Davis, U. S. N., 

 and discovered the fossils in the two beds in the cliffs of "San- 

 cati." A visit was also made to the cliff with Edward C. Cabot, 

 during which a collection of the fossils was made. These fossils 

 were exhibited at a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural His- 

 tory, November 18, 1848, and a paper describing the deposits read 

 at the same time. An abstract of this paper is given in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Society and an account also in the first Proceedings 

 of the American Association. 



In February 1849, there appeared a paper by Messrs. Desor and 

 Cabot in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of Lon- 

 don. In this a somewhat lengthy account is given of the exposed 



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