288 The American Geologist. xovemix-r, 1902 
Charles T. Simpson of the U. S. Xational Museum, to whom 
the question was later referred, states in a private letter that 
"this Omphalina is more solid than any caprwdes, friabilis or 
fuliginosa I have seen bvit agrees most nearly with capnodes."'-' 
Omphalina fuliginosa is therefore omitted from the final list of 
Natchez loess fossils, as Mr. Binney's specimen is the only one 
reported from the loess. Its occurrence as a fossil, however, 
would not be strange as the species is common in the south, 
and occurs living on the bluffs at Natchez. 
\\'ith the exception of Polygyra clausa all the species in 
Binney's list were found by the writer in the loess at Natchez, 
and 2^ species and recognized varieties were added to that 
locality list, and two further species. Polygyra frandulenta and 
P. palliata, were added at Mc^ksburg. Of these 29 species 
Polygyra thyroidcs huccnlcnta, P. frandulenta, Pyramidula 
alternata costata, Gastrodonta mnltidentata, Vitrca placcntnla, 
Punctum pygmaeum, Vertigo tridentata and Carychium exile 
are here reported for the first time from undoubted loess, while 
Polygyra palliata and Gastrodonta ligera have heretofore ap- 
peared only in Binney's rather indefinite "post-pliocene" lists, 
without locality. Inasmuch as several of the fossil species are 
now also living in the vicinity of the loess exposures great care 
was exercised in collecting the fossils. Some specimens of 
every species in the list of fossils, with the exception of 
Pupoides marginatus, were obtained by digging in undoubted 
undisturbed loess. Plate XII shows one of these excavations at 
the right. In some cases additional specimens were collected 
in the loess talus, but their characteristic heavy chalky ap- 
pearance, the presence of like shells in the undisturbed loess 
above the talus, and the absence of modern shells of the same 
species from the immediate vicinity of the particular exposures 
from which the shells were obtained, leave no doubt that they 
too are true loess fossils. The single specimen of Pupoides 
was collected in such talus, but its appearance is that of a 
loess fossil. ]\Iorever, the species occurs in the loess else- 
where. It is therefore here included as a fossil. 
In some cases the fossil shells were imbedded in large lime- 
stone nodules, and occassionally small nodules form partial 
casts of the shells. Some are shown in Plate XIII. Fossils were 
_^ ^^ 
*It is a striking fact that tlie shell quite uniformly appears heavier 
in loess fossils than in modern specimens of the same species. 
