570 Proceedings of Societies. [ September, 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
ACADEMY or NATURAL Scrences, Philadelphia. — May 9th. Dr, 
Leidy observed that the so-called phosphate beds of Ashley River, South 
Carolina, were remarkable for the irregular admixture of multitudes of 
fossils of different ages, from the early tertiary period inclusive down to the 
present epoch. The phosphatic nodules, for which the beds are explored, 
appear to have had their origin from the eocene rocks beneath. These 
have also contributed numerous remains of marine vertebrates, especially 
of Zeuglodonts, reptiles and fishes. Mingled in the sand and clay with 
the phosphatic nodules and bones of eocene animals are innumerable 
remains of cetaceans, sharks, and other marine animals of perhaps the 
middle and later tertiary ages. Added to these are multitudes of re- 
mains of both marine and terrestrial animals of the quaternary period. 
Mingled pell-mell are found bones of the eocene Zeuglodonts — animals 
related to the whales and seals; hosts of teeth of the great eocene shark, 
Carcharodon angustidens ; myriads of the teeth of the giant sharks of 
the later tertiary periods, the Carcharodon megalodon ; bones and teeth 
of whales and porpoises ; abundance of remains of elephants, mastodons, 
Megatherium, horse, etc., and occasionally the rude implements of our 
own immediate ancestors. : 
From among a collection of fossils from the Ashley phosphate beds, 
recently submitted to his inspection by Mr. J. M. Gliddon, of the Pacific 
Guano Company, the specimens were selected which were presented for 
the examination of the meeting. One of them isa well-preserved tooth 
of a Megatherium ; another, a characteristic portion of the skull of a 
manatee; a third,a complete tusk of the walrus, indicating a still further 
point south for the extension of this animal than had been previously 
known ; a fourth, a huge tooth of a cetacean allied to the sperm whale, 
probably the same as those from the crag of Antwerp, ascribed to Di- - 
nozipbius. Besides these there are the beaks of three cetaceans of the 
little known family of the Ziphioids. These are porpoise-like animals, 
without teeth in the upper jaw, and usually with but a single pair of 
teeth in the lower jaw. The beaks composed of the codsified bones of 
the face are remarkable for their ivory-like density, which probably ren- 
dered them available as weapons of defense. 
A fourth beak from the same locality, but from another source, sel 
longs to a different species of the same family. These beaks and some 
associated fossils will form the subject of a paper shortly to be presented 
to the Academy. The species indicated by the specimens exhibited wer? 
described under the names Choneziphius trachops, Choneziphius cops 
Hboroziphius cælops, and Belemnoziphius prorops. 
Professor Leidy, in continuation, remarked that the remai 
of any kind, were exceedingly rare in the mesozoic red sha 
cross our State about fifteen miles north of us. Hence any fossils 
ns of life, 
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