98 THE NAUTILUS. 



The beautiful Corhis lamellosa Lam. was found in a thin layer of 

 white sand in the ferruginous bed — quantities of them in perfect 

 condition. Just as I was leaving I picked up a Cyprcea nuculoides 

 Ald.,^ so far as I know never before reported from this locality. A 

 fine large Fusus ( Clavilithes) protextus Con. rewarded my laborious 

 digging, as well as perfect specimens of most of the common species. 

 It was on my last visit that I was fortunate enough to find the very 

 rare Cancellaria priama Harris," the type of which had unfortunately 

 been broken. I obtained two enormous Trochiformis infundibulum 

 Lea, and among other interesting, though not in every case rare, 

 species may be mentioned the following: Pisania cluihomensis Whitf., 

 Lutraria papyria Con., Avicula limula Con., Papillina papilluta 

 Con. (very rare), Fusus inauratus Con., Conus sauridens Con., Comu- 

 lina armigera Con., a MeJongena n. sp., Limopsis cuneiis Con., Flssu- 

 relia tenehrosa Con., Sigaretus declivis Con., Actceon injlatior Meyer, 

 Mathilda leana Aid., Leiorhynus prorutus Gabb. 



The locality ought also to be interesting to the collector of recent 

 shells. I noted on the bluff the dainty Glandina rosea Fer. 



Passing through the overgrown and deserted streets of the vil- 

 lage,* one would hardly suspect that in former times it was important 

 enough to be visited by General Lafayette (1825) in his tour of the 

 States. But the old Masonic Hall in which he spoke still stands, 

 though now removed to Perdue Hill, two miles away. Here (in 

 Claiborne) Conrad taught the children of a wealthy family while he 

 named the treasures of the ancient eocene sea. Two of Alabama's 

 Governors — Bagby and Murphy — were residents of Claiborne when 

 elected, and Charles Tait, to whom the scientific world is indebted 

 for its first knowledge of this famous bed. was Alabama's first Federal 

 Judge. On the "Bluff" itself stood old -'Fort Claiborne," whose 

 guns frowned vengeance on the crafty Choctaws; but gone now is 

 the glory of the once proud river town, scattered are its families, and 

 almost past n^covery are its traditions. 



But for how many years to come will these ancient seas continue 

 to give up the secrets entrusted to them ? Monuments that crun)ble 

 and yet survive; frail shells on which the order of creation is too 

 finely graven for human skill to imitate. 



Blocton, Alabama. 



1 Nautilus, Vol. XVI, p. 98, pi. 3. 



»Bull. Am. Pal., Vol. I, p. 49, pi. 1, fig. 20. 



* There are less than fifty inhabitants (white) in Claiborne to-day. 



