1881.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 159 



Hills " of the southern part of the State. At Claiborne the 

 representative beds consist of aluminous and calcareous 

 deposits, poor in fossils, but containing occasional layers of 

 Ostrea sellseformis — about 250 feet? 



1. The Wood's Bluff and Bashia (with Cave and Knight's 

 Branches) deposits (Eo-lignitic), consisting of alternating 

 dark claj'S, greenish and buff sands, and numerous seams of 

 lignite, partlj^ very rich in fossils, and as far as is yet poni- 

 tively known, the oldest Tertiary- deposits of the State — 50 

 — ? feet.i 



It is the intention of the writer to discuss in a future paper the 

 relations of these various Alabama deposits to those of other 

 sections of the United States, and to correlate them, as far as 

 possible, with the Eocene deposits of the typical European basins. 



^ It appears to the author that it would be convenient to designate these 

 lower deposits, which hold a rather constant position at the base of the 

 Eocene series in different parts of the eastern and southern United States, 

 by a tenn which could be readily applied in adjective form, and which 

 would at the same time in some manner express the relation of the beds 

 referred to. He therefore proposes the term "Eo-lignitic,'' which, while 

 it to some extent indicates the general character of the beds so designated, 

 is not restricted in its definition to the character of the deposits of any one 

 single locality. The " Buff Sand" of Wincbell {loc. cit., p. 89), probably 

 falls into this group, but its exact position, or its correspondent, does not 

 appear to be as yet definitely determined. It is seen to underly the 

 "Buhrstone," and is considered by Winchell to represent the absolute 

 base of the Tertiary system of the State. At Black's Bluff, Wilcox Co., 

 it is stated to repose directly on the subjacent Cretaceous limestone, but in 

 a foot-note (p. 90), we are informed that, according to Tuomey, the 

 characteristic fossil of this limestone, an Ostreeiy is probably Tertiary. 



