2S 
Numbers were thrown up in excavating the Santee canal, 
and from its abundance in South Carolina, I have given the spe- 
cific name of Curolinensis. As I have not seen it in situ, and 
am ignorant of its accompanying fossils, I cannot positively re- 
fer it to the Middle Tertiary, to which it probably belongs. 
OSTREA VIRGINIAN A, VAR. Tab. 14. fig. 2. 
Obovate, profoundly plicated, and with concentric imbricated 
laminae; superior valve flat, plicated, beaks laterally curved. 
Syn. Ostrea Virginiana, Gmel. 
Ostrea Virginica, Lam. An. sans vert,v. 6, p. 20 7. 
Locality. Suffolk, Va. Upper Tertiary. 
A common variety of this species, both in a recent and fossil 
state, and fine specimens of the former may be obtained on the 
coast of New Jersev. 
As a fossil, the 0 . Virginiana is no less variable than when 
recent, and occurs in a stratum with but little intermixture of 
other shells, which, wherever found, constitutes the superior 
bed of the formation it belongs to, although detached shells may 
be taken from any portion of the various deposits. Even in 
the Crag it exhibits the same relative position, and seems to 
have been the last bed deposited by the waters of the retiring 
ocean. The town of Easton, on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 
land, stands upon a bank of these oyster shells, which in many 
places in the vicinity of the town, may be seen, very entire, 
and mingled with the superficial soil; beneath them are the Ter- 
tiary marls, containing the usual characteristic species, but so 
far decomposed as to be scarcely recognizable. This species 
is also found in various parts of Europe, and is considered by 
Brongniart as a characteristic fossil. 
A very large oyster, probably identical with the present, ex- 
tends in a continuous bed through South Carolina, Georgia, Al- 
abama, and Mississippi. Mr. Finch considers this a distinct 
formation, and terms it Calcaire Ostree ; but before we adopt it as 
such, it is necessary that it should be carefully examined, and 
therefore a detailed account of it will be reserved for a future 
number of this work. 
h 
