162 Silliman's American Journal. 



madrepore, and, I have no doubt, formed through animal agency. It is 

 also peculiar to the calcareous deposits of the coal series, and, I believe, 

 found only on the outer margins of the great coal basins, in the valley of 

 the Mississippi, where they approach the tertiary deposits. I have in my 

 cabinet specimens of the same fossil, from the coal region on the Osage 

 River, in the vicinity of Harmony, the missionary station, presented to me 

 by the Rev. Mr. Boynton, who collected them with his own hands from 

 the bed of the river, in place. It is there from 4 in. to 8 in. in thick- 

 ness, and is named by the hunters 'coal blossom' ; as where that is seen, 

 coal is usually found in the vicinity. When exposed to the air, the fossil 

 separates easily, and can be taken out whole, in the same way that a pack- 

 age of thimbles, or a pile of tin cones, placed one within the other, may 

 be separated. I have the same fossil, but much larger and thicker, from 

 the Gauly River, in Western Virginia, found embedded in bituminous shale, 

 in rolled masses; also, from near Chilicothe, found in excavating the Ohio 

 Canal, resting on gravel, at the depth of 8 ft. or 10 ft. These last speci- 

 mens are siliceous, about 4 in. thick, and were broken from a water-worn 

 mass, 1 ft. across the face, much resembling the transverse section of a log 

 of wood. They were probably brought from the northern borders of the 

 coal deposits, at the same time that the granite boulders were scattered 

 over the tertiary region of the great valley, and by the same catastrophe. 

 An appropriate name for this organised stratum might be Belemnita- 

 Madrepora, provided it should, on further examination, be proved to be of 

 the family of Belemnites." 



An organised stratum, composed of calcareous fossil, shoot- 

 ing into pyramidal masses, and connecting the Belemnites 

 with the Madrepores, is indeed something for palaeontologists 

 to descant upon.* 



Many other notices of organic remains are dispersed 

 throughout the paper. One of these relates to a fossil 

 which the author supposes to be a chiton, though the ac- 

 companying woodcut would lead us to doubt the accuracy of 

 his conclusion. The following description, we fear, will not 

 enable our readers to form any definite opinion upon the 

 matter : — 



" Fossil Chiton. — Description. Length, 8 in. ; breadth, 6 in. ; nearly 

 cordiform in its outlines, anil fully 1 in. in thickness on the lateral margins. 

 Back, slightly convex; shell, with ten valves, longitudinally arranged, and 

 finely united on the back of the animal, somewhat resembling spinal arti- 

 culations; surface of each valve, smooth, or very slightly striated, and 

 distinctly marked with a very plain suture ; margin, smooth. The dermoid 

 portion is replaced by a beautiful greenish-coloured crystallised carbonate 

 of lime, about one line thick. 



" Remarks. — This beautifully preserved fossil animal was found, a few 

 days since, embedded in a dark carbonaceous lime rock, which forms the 

 bed of the Muskingum River, a short distance below the falls. In splitting 

 the rock, the back of the animal was distinctly disclosed : the abdomen is 

 yet buried in the fragment. The outlines are very perfect, showing the 

 back and sides very distinctly. This fossil so much more resembles a 

 Chiton than any of the family of Asaphi, that I have ventured to name it 

 Chiton occidentalis, until some one more appropriate can be found." 



* The fossil here alluded to is evidently a well known inorganic form. 



