T. H. Aldrich — Tertiary of Alabama. 303 



that they contain species in abundance that are rare in the 

 Claiborne sand. Turritella Mortoni is found very large here. 

 Owing to illness a complete list of species has not yet been 

 prepared. The geographical distribution will be given in the 

 future; the range of many species will be a surprise to those 

 who rely upon paleontological evidence alone to prove the age 

 of the various beds of the Tertiary of Alabama and Missis- 

 sippi. In many cases actual superposition seems to be the 

 onlv sure guide. 



Now if Dr. Meyer's theory is correct we should find under- 

 neath the Claiborne beds the Jackson and Vicksburg forma- 

 tions. 



We give below what we actually found. Proceeding up the 

 river from the Claiborne Landing we lose all trace of the Ter- 

 tiary rocks in about a mile and a half ; then till we reach Lis- 

 bon, on the west side of the river abcut five miles up, only the 

 recent bottom lands appear ; here is a fine exposure of the 

 lower Claiborne beds in a nearly vertical bluff about a mile 

 long. 



Section at Lisbon. 

 (a) Surface soil or loam 20 feet. 



(1) Sandy strata with clay streaks, no fossils observed, . 10 feet. 



(2) Sandy clays, dark brown, badly weathered, highly 

 fossiliferous, equals No. 9 and 10 of Claiborne section, 

 contains some new species, also Amphidesma limosa 

 Con., Area rhomboidella Lea, Turritella, n. s., V. 

 planicosta Lam., V. rotunda Lea, Lucina compressa 

 Lea, Ancillopsis vetustus Con., Rostellaria Whitfieldi 

 Keilpr., etc. 12' 0" 



(3) Hard sandy ledge ... 8" 



(4) Calcareous clayey sands, light yellow when wet, 

 nearly white when dry* 6' to 8' 



(5) Coarse grained ferruginous sands, fossils numerous.. 3' 0" 



(6) and (7) Light yellow sand with a hard ledge on top, 



lower five feet dark blue when wet 20 feet. 



(8) Bluish-black clay with remarkable fucoidal looking 

 raised rib-like concretions upon the exposed bedding 

 planes 8 feet. 



No. 8 is the top of the Buhr-stone series which are exposed 

 higher up the river. Lapparia dumosa Con., = Mitra pactilis of 

 Claiborne sand, is found in No. 5. This is the only Jackson 

 fossil in addition to those already known found here. 



About one mile from McCarty's ferry on the Tombigbee 



* There is a remarkable difference in color between beds when wet and 

 when dry. At Prairie Bluff. A.la., we noticed that deep blue clayey beds 

 weather out higher upon the bluff, wheie perfectly dry. to a nearly pure white 

 3and. The distinctive characters are so few between hundreds of layers that it 

 is hard to characterize them so as to be recognized by a future observer. 



