566 [Feb. 26. 



The two last-mentioned species of the above list, Pecten mem- 

 branaceus and Terebratula Wilmingtonensis, alone preserve their 

 shells, all the others being in the state of casts. The small Oliva 

 (fig. a.), resembles in general form 0. laumontiana Lam., or O. 

 nitidala Lara.., but is more slender than either. As it is only the 

 cast of the inside, it cannot be fully described. It appears to have 

 only two small folds in the columella, of which the anterior is the 

 larger. The Paludina (fig. c.) is like P. Desnoyerii Desh. (a 

 fossil of the white marl in the midst of the calcaire grossier), but 

 it has six volutions, Avhereas the P. Desnoyerii has barely four and 

 a half. In the Wilmington fossil, the spine is more acuminated 

 and the volutions more distant, so that the suture must have been 

 more distinct. 



Terebratula Wilnmigtonensis (Lyell and G. B. Sowerby), Wil- 

 mington, North Carolina. This shell resembles most nearly in ; 

 general form T. uva Brod. (recent from the Gulf of Tehuantepec), j 

 and also approaches T. bisinuata Lam., a fossil of the Paris basin. 

 The following are its characters : — 



Terebratula, with an oblong, smooth shell, posteriorly acuminated, anterior 

 margin nearly even, dorsal valve large, and posteriorly prominent. 



I was informed that a species of Nautilus had been found in the 

 Wilmington limestone. Among the Polyparia which I collected 

 there, Mr. Lonsdale has observed the following species : — t 



1. Lunulites sexangula Lons. 6. Dendrophyllia Icevis Lons., also at 



2. Lunulites Shell BlufF 



3. i. diVflMs Lons., also at Wan toot ? 7. Cari/ophT/llia? subdichotoma l^ons., also 



4. L. contigua Lons. at Shell Bluff 



5. Flabellum? c}meiforme{Anihophyllum 8. Eschara tubulata iojis. 



of Conrad), also found at Eutaw 

 and Cave Hall 



As four of these eight corals, those in italics, and ten of 

 the thirty-one shells, occur elsewhere in eocene localities, I con- 

 sider the age of the Wilmington limestone, on which some doubts 

 have been entertained, as set at rest. Among the teeth of sharks 

 in the same rock I found, together with the usual eocene forms, a 

 species of Galeus. The claws of crabs are also numerous. 



I observed the same formation, and some of the same shells and 

 corals, at Rocky Point, which is about twenty miles from Wil- 

 mington, on the N. E. branch of the Cape Fear River, w^here a 

 similar conglomerate occurs, with green pebbles. At some points 

 the rock is partly siliceous, and strikes fire with steel. 



i 



South Carolina. 



From the low country near the level of the sea, at the mouth 

 of Cooper River, to the junction of the San tee Canal, and 

 from that point to Vance's Ferry on the Santee River, a cal- 

 careous formation of the eocene period occurs. At the first 

 point where I saw it, in Dr. Ravenel's plantation called " the 



