250 STEPHENSON: TONGUE, A NEW TERM 



lies on the campus of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 

 near Starkville; on the May hew road, If miles east of Stark- 

 ville ; and along the Osborn road within 3 miles northeast of Stark- 

 ville, Oktibbeha County. The exact thickness of the tongue has 

 not been determined but probably nowhere exceeds 50 feet. 

 In Table 2 is a description of the section exposed in the May- 

 hew road. 



TABLE 2 

 Section in Mayhew Road, If Miles East of Starkville 



Selma chalk (Oktibbeha tongue) : 



Moderately sandy and argillaceous,chalky limestone with many 

 fossils * 



Ripley formation: 



Gray, finely micaceous, somewhat calcareous sand, with a few 

 slightly indurated ledges ■ 



Moderately sandy, very calcerous clay 



Feet 



26 



20 

 4 



Prairie Bluff tongue of Selma chalk. A tongue of chalk in Ala- 

 bama, similar to and contemporaneous with the Oktibbeha 

 tongue of Mississippi, extends eastward from the main body of 

 the Selma chalk in Marengo County nearly through Wilcox 

 County, south of and parallel to the westward extending ex- 

 tremity of the Ripley formation of Alabama. This tongue 

 appears to be separated from the underlying Ripley sand by an 

 unconformity, probably representing only a relatively short time 

 interval. The term Prairie Bluff is applied to this tongue, being 

 a revival of a name first used in a geologic sense by Winchell- 

 in 1857, for the chalk or "limestone" exposed in Prairie Bluff, 

 Wilcox County, Alabama. 



2 Winchell, A. Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 10 2 :84, 90. 1857. 



