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160 G EOLOGY.
the driftings of modern rivers, but also extensive deposits of drifted materials of various
ages and at various elevations, and beds of marine shells, some of which occur more
than a thousand feet above the sea. These shells have been examined by Mr. Broderip,
and nearly all of them appear to be identical with those of testacea that now live on the
adjacent coast. They seem to owe their position to some natural operation which has
elevated the land. The probability of their having been raised to their present place
by the effect of earthquakes, has been alluded to by Mr. Lyell in his principles of
Geology, 3rd Edition, vol. iii, p. 395, and vol. ii. p. 244. Deposits of recent shells
have been found on the summit of some parts of the coast, which are derived from tes-
taceans taken up by tbe natives for food.*
Th e following list has been prepared by Mr. Broderip :
C RU STA C EA .
Fragments of tbe pincer of a crab.
C IR R IP E D IA .
Balanus psittacus, (Lepas psittacus, Molina); recent at Concepcion de Chile,
and on the neighbouring coasts, where it is called Pico by the inhabitants, who collect
numbers of these cirripeds, together with the conchifera and mollusca of the adjoining
sea for food.
C O N C H IF E R A .
Amphidesma. N. S. (one valve only).
Solenocurtus solidus ? Gray. Solecurtus, Blainville.
I f not this genus, new, approaching amphidesma (one valve only, and the hinge is
much injured).
Pecten purpuratus, L am .; recen t; common at Valparaiso, Coquimbo, &c.
m o l l u s c a .
Fissurella; two species. Both recent at Valparaiso, Coquimbo, &c.
Calyptrsea extinctorium, L am .; recent at Valparaiso, &c.
Crepidula Byronensis? Gray. Perhaps a variety of C. Peruviana, Lam.; recent
a t Valparaiso, Coquimbo, &c. &c.
H elix ? Tbe mouth is much injured but enough remains to show that it was not,
sufficiently round for a Cyclostoma.
Monodon (Monodonta, Lam.); very imperfect; recent, common a t Valparaiso,
Coquimbo, &c.
* The Editor was informed by C aptain Phillips King (Sept. 1831) th a t the natives of the country near Concepcion
live almost entirely upon shell fish, of which there is an inexhaustible supply ; they carry them to great
distances, 50 or 60 miles, into the interior. They have been in the habit of doing this for ages, and along the coast
■ are vast piles of »hells thus accumulated by the agency of man. English vessels lay in stores of these testaceans and
take them an eight or ten days’ voyage from Concepcion, as far as Valparaiso.