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[AsSEMBI^r 
Clays must not be expected every where in the county, still they 
exist in most parts at a greater or loss depth. In some places the 
strata are very niuch waved, bent and contorted; indeed, they 
were not observed in any place to be continuously horizontal for 
any great distance, so that where a clay bed emerges upon the 
surface, it may, within a few rods, plunge so deep below, that a 
well a hundred feet in depth will not reach it. The clay beds are 
associated with strata of gravel, sand and pebbles, with which 
they alternate. The clays towards the east part of the county, 
lie at a greater depth than they do near Huntington. 
Fossil wood or lignite has been found in several places in the 
clays, and in their associated beds of sand and gravel, but in no in- 
stance in sufficient quantity for fuel. Sometimes it appears like 
charcoal, in others it is changed to iron ore, either hematite or 
pyrites. It was seen on Loyd's neck, Eaton's neck, East neck, 
Little neck and Mount Misery, and has been found in many places 
at from 20 to 100 feet below the soil. 
Fossil shells arc said to have been found in several places, by 
persons worthy of credit, and it is only remarkable, that in de- 
posites of this kind more have not been observed. I saw none of 
the shells, and Mr. Briggs, who was very particular in his inquiries 
and researches, found only a fragment of a single shell, and this, 
too imperfect for the determination of the species. Recent shells 
are so common on the soil, either where they have been used as a 
manure by the inhabitants or left in heaps, or scattered around the 
sites of former Indian villages, that even where they have been 
thrown up in digging wells, they may not have been observed. 
Although the most particular attention was directed to all the 
phenomena, connected with the banks of shells so common near 
the shores of Suffolk county, yet not an individual shell was observ- 
ed which was not, perhaps, indentical with the species now exist- 
ing in the adjacent waters; and none of these banks were buried 
under other materials than light drift sand or recent alluvial wash 
from the adjacent hills. 
The subject of fossil shells should excite the attention of our 
farmers, for, where such shells are found, it is very often the case 
that extensive beds of 7?tarl occur, which would be of inestimable 
value in a district where manures are so necessary and expensive 
