Abstract
AMONG the most important results of the investigations made by the party connected with the United States Fish Commission, stationed at Gloucester, Mass., during the present season, is the discovery of fragments of a hitherto unknown geological formation, apparently of great extent, belonging probably to the miocene or later-tertiary. The evidence consists of numerous large fragments of eroded, but hard, compact, calcareous sandstone and arenaceous limestone, usually perforated by the burrows of Saxicava rugosa, and containing in more or less abundance fossil shells, fragments of lignite, and in one case a spatangoid sea-urchin. Probably nearly one-half of the species are northern forms, still living, on the New England coast, while many others are unknown upon our coasts, and are apparently, for the most part, extinct. From George's Bank about. a dozen fossiliferous fragments have been obtained, containing more than twenty-five distinct species of shells. Among these one of the most abundant is a large thick bivalve (Isocardia) much resembling Cyprina islandica in form, but differing in the structure of the hinge. This is not known living. Mya truncata, Ensatella Americana, and the genuine Cyprina are also common, together with a large Natica, a Cyclocardia (or Venericardia) allied to C. borealis (Con.), but with smaller ribs, Cardium islandicum, and also various other less common forms. These fragments came from various parts of the bank, including the central part, in depths varying from 35 to 70 fathoms, or more.
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VERRILL, A. OCCURRENCE OF FOSSILIFEROUS TERTIARY ROCKS ON THE GRAND BANK AND GEORGE'S BANK . Nature 18, 620 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018620a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018620a0
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