6 LIFE OF THE PLEISTOCENE 



discussed by Bannister and Leverett, is graphically shown (see plate IV, 1) 

 and commented upon as follows: 



Section of blujf at Evanston 



10. Sandy 1.50 feet 



9. Brown sand and fine gravel 2.50 



8. Coarse gravel, stratified 2.50 



7. Fine sand 2.00 



6. Gravel 1.33 



5. Fine sand 1.50 



4. Peat and carbonaceous earth : 1.50 



3. Gravel and sand 3.25 



A. Humus soil, organic matter, very thin . 



2. Laminated yellow clay 3.50 



1. Clay (bowlder) 2.00 



Total height 21.58 " 



"For ten years previous to that time (1884), according to the best informa- 

 tion that could be obtained, the shore had washed away about two rods each 

 year. At the time the section was made, a northeast storm had produced a 

 clear vertical section of the bluff. L (Lake Michigan) indicates the water 

 surface. For two feet at the foot of the bluff, the shingle of the shore covered 

 the clay. Above the shingle was a vertical section of the upper portion of the 

 clay; three and one-half feet as shown in the diagram. At A on the surface 

 of the clay, five and one-half feet above the water, was an old soil. The layer 

 of organic matter was very thin, but on it, was much coniferous wood, some of 

 which appeared to grow on the place where it was found. No other kind of 

 wood was found at this horizon. Three and a half feet of nearly horizontally 

 stratified sand covered this soil. Then at 4, in the diagram, there was one 

 and a half feet of peat. In the upper surface of the peat, were many fresh 

 water shells. Nine different genera were identified, all of which were existing 

 species. They were Planorbis, Valvata, Physa, Lymnia (Lymneea) etc., with 

 fresh water bivalves, so decomposed that it was impossible to determine the 

 species. Upon this peat and lying more closely upon it than is indicated in 

 the figure at 5, were trunks of oak trees in a layer of fine sand. This layer, 4, 

 with the oak trunks lying on it or in it, extends under all the village of Evanston 

 east of the railroad. At 6 was a bed of coarser gravel in which were found in 

 1863, a little distance from the place of this section, pelvic bones which have 

 been referred to the deer. 



"The parts of the section above this are of beach or bar structure and need 

 no particular description. Specimens of the coniferous wood from the soil A , 

 and of the oak from 5, were sent, in 1890, to Prof. D. P. Penhallow, of Magill 

 University, Montreal, who on examination microscopically replies, "No. 1 

 is not an Arbor Vitae, but a Picea. Both this and the oak cannot be referred 



