216 
DALL. 
sible. Of the “ Fossils of the Tertiary formation ” he has 
seen eight copies and found track of five more. In this work 
he has been much indebted to the energetic labors of Mr. Gil¬ 
bert D. Harris, of the United States Geological Survey. Mr. 
Harris and the writer have co-operated, with the same end 
in view, in the hope that when the material was all brought 
together some means might he found for reprinting these 
papers so important for all students of American Tertiary 
Geology. Pending such a reprint the writer has prepared 
the present summary of the facts toward which the work of 
Mr. Harris equally with his own has contributed, but for all 
expressions of opinion here, in cases of doubt, the writer is 
alone responsible. 
In January, 1829, Judge Charles Tait, of Claiborne (then 
called Fort Claiborne), Alabama, called the attention of Mr. 
Isaac Lea to the rich fossil fauna of the sand}^ stratum in 
the bluff at that place, and during subsequent correspondence 
supplied specimens of these fossils and a descriptive section 
of the bluff. Subsequently specimens of these fossils were 
sent to other geologists and excited much interest. 
Dr. Gates, of New York, at the instance of several gentle¬ 
men, visited Claiborne in the season of 1831-2, and made a 
collection which was sent to Philadelphia, and, through the 
initiative of Dr. Morton, was placed in the hands of Mr. 
Conrad to be determined ; the new species comprised in it 
were described by him in 1832 in Nos. 1 and 2 of the “ Ter¬ 
tiary fossils,” though he does not mention from whom they 
were received. 
In 1833 Mr. Conrad, then the most prominent student of 
the Tertiary of the United States, decided to make a journey 
in the south which should take him over the major part of 
the Tertiary belt of the United States, including a visit to 
Claiborne. As Mr. Conrad was in very moderate circum¬ 
stances he invited subscriptions to sets of the fossils to be 
collected in order to obtain means for the journey. Mr. Lea, 
Dr. Morton, and other patrons of science in Philadelphia 
were among the subscribers. It was understood that Mr. 
