1722, 723, 724] zeuglodon — entire skeleton desirable. 33l 



oysters ("[[198), arc sometimes found on them, accompanied, not 

 unfrequently, by the bones of the huge Zeuglodon ("[207, 208).* 



Unlike the cretaceous prairies, those of the Tertiary do not 

 generally possess a subsoil stratum distinctly different from the 

 underlying rock (1124 ; 335, ff.) ; the soil seems, in most cases, to 

 be a mere disintegration of the Tertiary material (1202, 203 ; 207, 

 208), which in many points forms the immediate subsoil. The same 

 is true, more or less, of the soil of the " Gypseous " and " Hog- 

 wallow " prairies. 



722. The ridge lands intervening between the several kinds of 

 prairie lands, bear partly (in the northern portion of the belt) the 

 character of the soils of the adjoining Yellow Loam Region, or 

 (further S.) that of the Long-leaf Pine ridges. It is only, so far as 

 I know, in the extreme East, in Clarke and Wayne, beyond the 

 Chickasawhay — that the black prairie occupies the summits of the 

 i-idges to any great extent. For convenience sake I shall include 

 in the description of this region, that of some lands adjoining it 

 which, though not underlaid by the marl formations, are more 

 nearly related in their agricultural features to those of the Prairie 

 Region, than to any other. 



723. Warren and Yazoo. — I am not aware to what extent the 

 features of the prairie region are developed in these counties, 

 whose surface conformation, so far as I am acquainted with it, 

 resembles in general, most nearly that of the Southern River 

 Counties (1674 to 720), and, so far as N. E. Yazoo is concerned, 

 of the Yellow Loam Region, which see (1634, ff.). It is to be 

 observed, however, that in an agricultural point of view, that 

 portion of them which is underlaid by the blue and white marls 

 and limestones of the Tertiary (see map), possesses a great addition- 

 al advantage as compared with the counties possessing, as a fertil- 

 izer, only the calcareous silt of the Bluff formation (1327, ff.). 



724. Hinds and Madison.— There is a great general resemblance, 

 amounting almost to identity, in the agricultural features of the 

 adjoining halves of these two counties. Level or gently undulating- 

 uplands, possessing a fertile soil and deep loam subsoil resembling 



*The fossil monster called the Zeuglodon macrospondylus (or Z. cetoides) was 

 a marine animal of the Whale tribe, but resembling in shape rather an alligator 

 or lizard, than any Whale at present existing. Its total length (as seen in 

 skeletons), often exceeded 100 feet. It has thus far been found only in Missis- 

 sippi and Alabama, but no doubt exists in the corresponding portion of Arkansas, 

 where huge bones are said to occur on the prairies. It is greatly to be desired 

 that a complete skeleton of this ancient inhabitant of our State, should be 

 secured for the collection of the State University at Oxford ; nor would this be 

 a difficult matter, if gentlemen residing in districts where these bones occur, 

 (especially in N. Smith and S. Scott, where they are so frequently laid bare by 

 the plow, as well as by rains) would interest themselves so far as to communi- 

 cate to the State Geologist, or the faculty at Oxford, the discovery of any appa- 

 rently complete skeleton, protecting the same from being dismembered and 

 scattered until measures could be taken to exhume it. 



