284 PALEONTOLOGY. 



BELEMNITES. 



B. CHiLENSis, Conrad. Subacicular ; somewhat curved towards the apex, which is .obtuse; sides 

 flattened ; groove profound, and terminating much below the apex. 

 Locality. Caklera. 



Recent formation of Cojnapo, CJiile. 



The collection of fossil shells obtained by Lieut. Gilliss consists of some of the common recent 

 species of Chile, living as ftxr south as Valparaiso. This recent formation, discovered upon the 

 line of the Copiapo railroad, is an aggregation of fragmentary and water-worn shells, mixed 

 with sea-sand and gravel in varying proportions, having evidently been a sea-beach during the 

 existence of the present fauna, and now elevated from twenty-five to four hundred and twenty 

 feet above the sea. Specimens of this rock are composed of fine fragments of shells, apparently 

 cemented by carbonate of lime, and which consist chiefly of one species of bivalve, Mulinia By- 

 ronensis, a common recent species of Valparaiso. On the upper surface which marks the last 

 dejjosition of shells previous to their elevation beyond the reach of the sea, many specimens of 

 Mulinia are nearly entire, but always water-worn. On one specimen of this rock the most 

 abundant shell is Turritella cingulata, also water-worn ; and these two sjjecies chiefly compose 

 this probably extensive rock formation. The other shells enumerated in the list appended are 

 rare, and add little, therefore, to the bulk of the rock. It is evident, from these specimens, that 

 the coast of northern Chile has been elevated more than four hundred feet, and to a distance of 

 twenty-five miles from the Pacific, at a comparatively recent period. Indeed, these aggrega- 

 tions of shell fragments have a striking resemblance to those now forming on Anastatia island, 

 on the Florida coast. Darwin, in describing the formations of Copiapo, does not allude to this 

 rock, and therefore it has been probably exposed for the first time by excavations made for the 

 Copiapo railroad. A large oyster-shell, found imbedded in a mixture of ferruginous quartzose 

 sand and gravel, at an elevation of four hundred feet above the sea, is a species that I do not 

 find described or referred to by authors, and it is probably tertiary fossil. It has a Balanus 

 attached to it, very like one of the Miocene species. 



Many of the specimens of concreted shells are no more altered in structure than those on the 

 coast of Florida ; but a specimen of this rock, from an elevation of four hundred feet, twenty- 

 five miles from the coast, is of a sparry or crystalline structure, the fragments so small and water- 

 worn that it is scarcely possible to ascertain with certainty the species of which it is composed, 

 but is most probably made uji of Mulinia Byronensis. 



List of Shells in the recent formation of the Copiapo railroad. 



UNIVALVES. 



1. TURKITELLA CINGULATA, Sowerby. 



2. CoNCiiOLEPAS PERUVIANA, Lam. One young specimen ; elevation 138 feet. 



3. Fusus RECURVUS? Koch. One broken specimen. 



4. Trochus MICROSTOMA, d'Orbigny. Bare; elevation 138 feet. 



5. Crepidula dilatata. Lam. Bare. 



6. Strephona peruviana, {Oliva, Lam.) Two specimens. 



7. TROcniTA RADIANS, {Golytroia, Lam.) One specimen. 



BIVALVES. 



8. Mulinia byronensis. Gray. 



9. Tapes LiTHOiDA, {Venus, Jonas.) Elevation 138 feet; one valve. 



