Mr. Cleaveland’s account of fossil shells. 157 
‘the same smell, when first taken from the clay ; and, as far as I have 
seen, are the clam, and twa varieties of the muscle; and another 
kind of shell, whose genus I know not. It is large, of a conical 
form, about three inches in length, and passing in a double - spiral 
line from the larger part to the vertex. The same genus is found 
on our sea shores. ‘These shells are in general well preserved, and in 
almost every instance filled with clay; which must have entered 
them with the watcr, in which it was suspended. I saw very 
few valves lying by themselves. When carefully taken from the 
clay, the’shell is either whole, or the valves opened and lying con- 
tiguous to each other at the hinge. I also took from near the 
bottom of the same well a large rock, to which were adhering many 
of those shells, which the seamen call barnacles. 
‘The other well is situated in Brunswick ; at an elevation of 
_ about eighty feet above the tide water in the Androscoggin ; and 
about half a mile westward of the same river above the falls. It is 
on the side of a hill. Several gullies take their rise at the foot of 
the hill, and lead to the river. This well is twenty two feet deep. 
After cutting through the soil, the first twelve feet consist of alternate 
strata of yellowish sand and common brick clay. At the depth of 
twelve feet commences a stratum of blue clay, which is four feet 
thick. This clay is plentifully interspersed with shells, similar to 
those before mentioned ; and has the same appearance and smell. 
This is followed by a stratum of grey sand, similar to that often seen 
upon beaches. The next three feet consist of thin, alternate layers of 
common brick clay and a reddish sand. The last stratum, and - 
in which the well terminates, is a brown sand, resemb 
is frequently found at the surface. Dre 
I have selected these two wells from several others — id 
had. better opportunities of examining them. , 
