

Portland and its Vicinity. 329 



mens. A well characterized^ though not entire, speci- 

 men of crab occurred in the same place. 



) 



( 



remains above described^ occur in its lower part. In the 

 upper layers I found the peculiar relic which I have de- 

 scribed and figured in my Report on the Geology of 

 Massachusetts, as existing in the clay beds of the newest 

 tertiary strata in that State. 1 have learnt nothing far- 

 ther, since that account was made out, as to its nature. 

 I can hardly doubt that it is of animal origin ; probably 

 of the polypiferous class. It would seem that it consisted 

 of a single spherical head, rarely more than an inch in 

 diameter, with a simple tube of smaller size, proceeding 

 from it downwards, several inches long. Indeed, it seems 

 to have conformed in its structure to the living genus 

 Hydra. Wherever I have met with it, and I have seen 

 it in many clay beds, it has almost always occurred in 

 the upper part of the stratum. In Maine I found it, not 



^ 



only at the spot above mentioned, but in the clay pits a 

 mile or two west of Portland. Its occurrence at the 

 slide, evidently in the same deposite as the shells that 

 have been described, furnishes us with an important 

 addition to our knowledge of those so numerous clay 

 beds in New England, which I denominate the newest 

 tertiary. Hitherto this polypiferous fossil was the only 

 one that had been found in these deposites ; and from it 

 we could not determine whether they were formed in 

 fresh or salt water- But the shells at the slide all belons: 



O 



to marine genera, and they seem to indicate a similar 

 origin for the whole deposite. Yet if such be the fact, 

 the great infrequency of organic remains is difficult to 

 explain. 



VOL. 1. PART m. 43 



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