1 882. 11 Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



of the Lower Bed, and it seems that, the deeper the marl is pene- 

 trated, the more numerous and varied do these become. Here occur 

 the Ammonites and Baculites ; the Pectens, Otcullceas, Areas, 

 Cardzums and the many forms of gasteropods. 



Above the Lower Marl Bed lies a stratum of sand, colored more or 

 less red by sesquioxide of iron, and hence termed the " Red Sand 

 Bed." This attains in places a thickness of one hundred feet and 

 contains Lower Bed fossils, as at Mullica Hill, where the very 

 numerous fossils are found in a hard indurated marl, which there 

 occurs near the summit of this Red Sand Bed. 



The Middle Marl Bed. 



This overlies the Red Sand and is composed of three well defined 

 layers, viz. ; 



(i), A green marl layer, made up almost entirely of greensand 

 grains ; this merges into the indurated marl of the Red Sand Bed, 

 or into a chocjlate colored marl, in its southwestern extension. This 

 layer contains few shells, but many bones and teeth of saurians ; 

 and some very perfect skeletons of Mosasaurus, etc., have been taken 

 from it. 



(2), A shell layer ; this is another feature in the marl bed geology. 

 It averages about five feet in thickness, and is composed of two 

 species of shells, thickly imbedded in greensand. The lower two- 

 thirds of its thickness are made up of Gryphcea vestcularis, Cuv., of 

 a very uniform size — about three inches across — none of the very 

 large ones which compose the shelly layer of the Lower Bed being 

 here observable. The upper third is composed of shells and casts 

 of Terebrattcla Harlant, Mort., and occasionally some of the very 

 closely allied T. fragilis, Mort. The Terebrattilas are commonly 

 called " squirrel-heads," and when well preserved make beautiful 

 fossils. This shell layer e.xtends from Long Branch to the Delaware. 

 It is overlain by (3), the stratum of limestone and less compact lime- 

 sand, generally of a white or light yellow color, which forms the top of 

 this bed and is a deep water deposit. Il is thickest in the south- 

 western part of the marl belt, attaining a thickness of over twenty 

 feet in Salem County. It may be traced entirely across the State, 

 being observable, on the Atlantic coast, about Long Branch, where 

 the rock is occasionally washed out by the waves. Here, however, 

 its thickness is much less. In Monmouth County, it is almost all 

 " Hmesand," but parts of it become more compact as we proceed 

 southwestwardly, and the rock is sufficiently hard to be burned for 

 lime. 



This stratum contains numerous fossils. Brjozoa of many species 



