Book Description

Excerpt from Description of the Fossils and Shells Collected in California Sir: I have examined the very interesting organic remains which you collected in California, and the drawings of such species as were too fragile to preserve, and I herein submit a few remarks upon their geological relations. There appear to be several distinct groups but I cannot pretend, from such scanty materials, to designate what partic ular formation every group represents. There is no obscurity resting (m the deposits Of Santa Barbara and San Pedro, which represent a recent formation, in which you inform me the remains Of the mammoth occur. The shells are generally those which live in the adjacent waters, and indicate little, if any, change Of temperature since their deposition. The littoral character Of this formation is very evident. Water-worn shells and fragments show the action of the surf, whilst entire specimens of bivalves, and Pholadidae, and Saxicavas, remain ing undisturbed in their self-excavated domicils, exhibit the same dis position Of marine shells that is familiar to the observer on all sandy and argillaceous shores. They burrow in clay, mud, or sand, beyond the ordinary action of the surf; whilst some are scooped out by the tempest-driven surge, and others preyed upon by fishes and marine animals of various kinds, and are thus broken up and deposited among the living species. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.