LYELL ON THE MIOCENE BEDS OF N. AMERICA. 427 



Mammalia. 



The vertebrae of whales, apparently similar to those before de- 

 scribed as found in Martha's Vineyard, occur in the miocene beds 

 of Petersburg and other places. 



In the museum at Baltimore, the grinder of a Mastodon was 

 shown me, evidently distinct from that of M. giganteus. It had 

 been recognised by Mr. Charlesworth as the M, longirostris Kaup, 

 and had been so ticketed by him. Professor Ducatel had the 

 kindness to allow me to take the specimen to Philadelphia, where 

 Dr. Harlan identified it with the M. longirostris by comparison 

 with casts sent to him by Mr. Kaup. The tooth is narrower than 

 in the common Mastodon giganteus, and the parallel rows of trans- 

 verse mammillary processes, instead of being divided by distinct 

 hollows, are connected together by projecting spurs. 



I was informed that this tooth was found at the depth of 15 feet 

 from the surface of a bed of marl, near Greensburgh, in Caroline 

 County, Maryland. Though I have not visited the place, I have 

 little doubt that this Mastodon was a miocene fossil, and it 

 occurs in beds of the same age on the Rhine. 



Appendix. — Extract of a Letter from W. Lonsdale, Esq. F.G.S., 

 to Mr. Lyell, on the Indications of Climate afforded by the 

 Miocene Corals of Virginia. 



"July, 1845. 

 " From ten fossil species of Polyparia belonging to different 

 families, it is difficult to form an opinion respecting the climate in 

 which they were produced. Nevertheless, as recent lamelliferous 

 corals are well known to be markedly distributed as respects 

 climate, the following notice is submitted for consideration. The 

 district in Virginia whence the miocene polyparia were procured 

 being situated in about 37° of north latitude, is on the same 

 parallel with the southern coast of the Mediterranean westward 

 of Tunis, and the northern portion eastward of that point ; and as 

 very little appears to be known of the distribution of recent corals 

 on the coasts of the United States, it is proposed to compare the 

 nature of the fossil genera with that of those living in the Medi- 

 terranean ; it is hoped that no great objection can be advanced 

 against this comparison, or mode of inferring climate, as species 

 are disregarded, and as the polyparia of the Bermudas and the 

 West Indies agree generically with those of the Red Sea and 

 Indian Ocean. The ten species belong to seven genera, Colum- 

 nar ia(^\ Astrea, Anthophyllum, Heteropora, Cellepora, Lepralia, 

 and Lunulites, the first three being lamelliferous Anthozoa ; and 

 though Columnaria is an extinct genus, yet it is believed that its 

 requirements may be safely inferred to have been analogous to 

 those of Astrea, Heteropora is also only found fossil ; but being 



