14 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



The investigations of the past summer were confined to the Kas- 

 kaskia rocks of Monroe and Eandolph Counties, 111. They were 

 systematically carried on in connection with the geological work 

 for the State of Illinois, in progress at the same time under the 

 direction of Prof. Weller, in order to have the benefit of accurate 

 determinations of the horizons from which the collections were 

 made, with reference to the several subordinate formations into 

 Avhich the Kaskaskia of that region is divided. In this way it was 

 hoped to correct some confusion as to the stratigraphic relation 

 of a number of species described in the geological reports of 

 Illinois and Iowa. The operations were successful in this respect, 

 and at the same time six large boxes of fine specimens were obtained. 

 Among the specimens there are a number of slabs covered with 

 crinoids not hitherto found in that formation in an excellent state 

 of preservation, a portion of one slab containing 22 specimens of 

 9 different species. 



MOLLUSCAN FAUNA OF VIRGINIA COAST. 



Mr. John B. Henderson, jr., a member of the Board of Regents of 

 the Institution, and Dr. Bartsch, of the National Museum, visited 

 the Atlantic shore of Accomac County, Va., which had heretofore 

 received little attention from collectors. 



The chief objects of this trip were to determine of just what 

 elements the molluscan fauna consisted; to see how many, if any, 

 species of southern range lapped over from Hatteras, and what 

 northern species still persisted in this faimal area. The collectors 

 were fortunate in their somewhat haphazard choice of a locality, 

 for they encountered at Chincoteague a greater variety of stations 

 than can probably be found at any other point along this section of 

 the coast. Here there are interior sounds of very considerable 

 extent which are very shallow (4 to 12 feet), more or less thickly 

 sown with oyster beds and with patches of eel grass, the bottom 

 ranging from hard sand through varying degrees of hard clay 

 to soft mud. 



They found also the unusual feature of a bight or protected cove 

 formed by the southward drift at the southern end of Assateague 

 Island, protected from heavy wave action by a long, curved sand 

 spit. This bight has a soft mud bottom, with a temperature possibly 

 8° less than that of the open sea. The mud brought up with the 

 dredge seemed almost icy to the touch. This condition is probably 

 produced by cold springs seeping through the floor of the bight. 

 This colder water of the bight yielded to their dredge Yoldia lima' 

 tula^ large and fine, and Nucula proxima, whereas just around the 

 protective spit of sand, on the ocean side, they found dead Terebras 



