Scudder.J 184 [October 6, 



It is worthy of note that the fossils of this locality lie above the 

 clays, instead of in them, as in most of the New England localities 

 of post-pliocene marine shells. 



Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale College, has studied the fossils ob- 

 tained by various parties from these strata, and comes to interesting 

 conclusions, differing from those of Messrs. Desor and Cabot, which 

 were based on much more meagre collections. The latter gentlemen 

 enumerate but seventeen species, and state that they are common to 

 the two beds, while Prof. Verrill finds sixty species, most of them Mol- 

 lusca, of which only thirteen, or less than twenty-two per cent., are 

 common to the two strata; thirty-seven species are found in the lower, 

 and thirty-six in the upper bed. He also finds the fauna of the two 

 beds very different in character, the condition of the shells in the lower 

 bed, and their southern character, showing that they were deposited 

 " in the very quiet waters of a sandy sheltered bay, entirely protected 

 from the action of the oceanic waves "; he compares the assemblage 

 of species to tho^e " now living in the protected bays of southern 

 New England, at the depth of from three to five fathoms." On the 

 other hand, the abundance of northern forms in the upper bed of 

 broken shells, shows that it " was deposited by the cold waters of the 

 outer coast, and their water worn condition proves that the deposit 

 was made in very shallow water near the shore, or near sand shoals 

 swept by the waves." 



All the species of both the beds still inhabit the waters of southern 

 New England, excepting one, which has not yet been found further 

 south than Massachusetts Bay. Prof. Verrill does not find any dif- 

 ference between any of these fossils and their recent representatives 

 living in the same region, with the exception of the quahog (Venus 

 mercenarid), the fossil specimens of which are usually very heavy; 

 but as he has found considerable variation, both among fossil and 

 living examples, he does not believe the distinctions noticed to be 

 " anything more than a local variation, such as often occurs in many 

 species at the present time." Yet he proposes for this form the varie- 

 tal designation antiqua. 



I have not had an opportunity of comparing the fossil quahog 

 with any specimens coming from a depth of from three to five fath- 

 oms (at which he believes the beds containing these fossils to have 

 been deposited), but last year I compared from twenty to thirty per- 

 fect fossils, with as many recent ordinary Nantucket specimens of 



