Upham.J 48 [March 15, 
museum of this Society and the other lialf to that of Dartmouth 
College. These specimens were brought from St. George's Bank, 
antl were mostly from clei)ths of about 40 fathoms. 
By date of September 29, 1890, Professor Verrill wrote as fol- 
lows, in reply to my inquiries concerning the Fish Commission 
collection of the fossiliferous bed-rocks of the Fishing Banks : 
"I have found it useless to try to work up tlie fossils till the 
recent shells from the same region are better known. We have 
already added more than 200 species to the list of the shells of 
the banks and their vicinity, and have many others on hand not 
yet described. Probably many of the fossils may be identical 
with these newly recorded or unrecorded species, but a very long 
and laborious study can alone determine how many are recent, 
owing to their imperfect condition." In the light of this lately 
added knowledge of the fauna of our submarine continental 
border\ it seems very probable that these rocks will prove of 
Pliocene rather than Miocene age. Their uplift and subaerial 
erosion took place, therefore, as already indicated in the preced- 
ing part of this paper, at the close of the Tertiary era and im- 
mediately before the Glacial period. 
The Fishing Banks are thus to be accounted, like the fjords 
of all our northern coasts, the submerged continuation of the 
Hudson River channel, and the similar very deep submarine 
valleys off the shore of California near Cape Mendocino, to which 
I have previously called attention^, as evidences of a great 
epeirogenic uplift of the northern part of this continent preceding 
and })roducing the Ice age. 
1 Previous to 1870 the known molluscan fauna of the seas of northeastern America 
comprised about 290 species; but now, accordinj^ to Prof. A'^errill, it numbers 500 or 
more. In comparison witli this we may note tliat the British Isles have about 000 
species of marine imillusks, and tiie whole of Europe aliout 800- (Prestwicli's 
Geology, vol. 1, p. 120-121 .) 
* "Probable causes of glaciation." Appendix of Wri,i;ht's Ice age in North 
America, 1889, p. 573-595. Bulletin G. S. A., vol. 1.1890, p. 503 -567. Amer. 
peol, vol. G, Dec. 1890, p. 327-339. 
