67 JOURNAL OF THE 
tains a small fragment of the rock from which these curious 
specimens were obtained, and it appears to be spherulitic. 
According to Mr. Willis, who obtained the information di- 
rectly from Mr. Kochibi, ‘‘ these stones are found only in rhy- 
olitic tufts. They not infrequently occur much larger than 
these specimens, possibly up to two inches in diameter or 
more, and are more frequently associated in groups of two 
or three overlapping or coalescing. They are generally white, 
the rosy tint of these specimens being a rare characteristic.” 
A thin section of one of these ‘‘ abacus-stones ” shows it to be 
an agate of which the outer layers are pink and the inner 
white. There can be no doubt in this case that the form 
resulted from the filling of the cavity long after the solidifi- 
cation of the igneous material. 
THE DEEP WELL AT WILMINGTON, N. C.? 
BY J. A. HOLMES. 
The deep well which is now being bored at Wilmington, 
N. C., is of especial interest to geologists: (1) That in reach- 
ing granite, as it does at about 1109 feet, it shows the absence at 
this point of the formation between the upper Cretaceous and 
the old crystalline floor underlying the coastal plain deposits ; 
(2) it shows the existence there of an unfortunately and unusu- 
ally thick series of salt-water-bearing strata, from 350 to 1100 
feet below the surface; (3) it may throw some light on the re- 
lations between the deposits of the sand hill regions (gener- 
ally classed as Potomac) and the upper Cretaceous beds pene- 
trated by this well. 
The well is located on the bank of the northeast Cape Fear 
1 Science, N. S. XI., 265, Jan. 26, 1900, p. 128. 
