2l6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE WAGNER FREE 



as only Pliocene, or younger, against 1 8 which are regarded as only Pliocene 

 and older. 



In the case of the Croatan beds we find 35 uncharacteristic (Miocene to 

 recent) species, with 6 new or doubtful forms. We have 2 characteristic Plio- 

 cene species and li hitherto known as recent. Of the 55 with known range, 

 47 are known as Pliocene or younger, and 8 as of Pliocene or older horizons. 



By this method, therefore, no doubt can arise as to the non-Miocene 

 character of both these faunas, and no one is likely to regard the Waccamaw 

 beds as Pleistocene. The Croatan beds are obviously newer than those of the 

 Waccamaw, yet when compared with the admitted Pleistocene beds of South 

 Carolina, such as those of Simmons's Bluff, the presence on the Neuse of 

 41 out of 96 species which have not been known later than the Pliocene 

 forbids us to regard the fauna as later than Pliocene. 



It should be explained that reference to the literature as it stands would 

 show apparent discrepancies between these figures and the records. But the 

 comparisons have not been made by the books, but by the specimens. The 

 Carolinian forms have been compared with those from the Caloosahatchie and 

 Chipola beds, or with the fauna of the Natural Well in Duplin County, N. C, 

 and of Petersburg, Va. 



This is, in fact, the only safe way of arriving at a reliable conclusion. 

 When we remember that many of the species from the very beds under inves- 

 tigation have been described as Miocene by Emmons and Conrad, and 

 inserted in their Miocene lists ; that scores of the older species have been 

 described simply as " Miocene, Virginia " or " Miocene, North Carolina," with 

 no other indication of horizon, or exact locality, than the assumptions of the 

 original describer, we cannot fail to recognize that any discussion of the 

 relations of the fauna based upon the literature alone would be in the highest 

 degree inconclusive. 



It is highly probable that, when our knowledge of the range of our 

 Tertiary species is more complete, it will be found that the cited ranges will 

 be extended in many cases from those given in the tables. But there is no 

 reason to suppose that the main conclusion, to which the foregoing discus- 

 sion has led us, will be seriously affected by such changes. We may now 

 assert with confidence that — 1, the presence of genuine Pliocene beds has 

 been established in both the Carolina's ; 2, the Pliocene of Tuomey and 

 Holmes has been shown to be a confusion of species belonging to at least 

 two horizons ; and 3, that the classifications based upon the supposed char- 

 acteristics of this non-existent fauna may now be consigned to oblivion, or at 

 least removed from the geologic pathway in which they have been so long 

 a stumbling-block. That their biological anomalies enabled the writer 

 practically to predict this result is satisfactory testimony to the value of 

 paleontology in geological work — a value which some modern writers have 

 too hastily called in question. 



