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irregular thin flaggy bands, usually from one to three inches 

 thick. Between these we often find thin layers of loose granular 

 calcareous sand, identical, or nearly so, with the matter of the 

 rock, but destitute of cohesion. 



This formation contains a profusion of organic remains, many 

 of which belong in like manner to the underlying greensand, 

 though some occur in it alone. Resting usually in direct contact 

 with the greensand stratum, it contains often a moderate pro- 

 portion of the green granular mineral, sprinkled throughout its 

 mass. 



Fourth. A yellow very ferruginous coarse sand, containing 

 sometimes a small proportion of the green mineral. This stratum 

 is in some places thirty feet thick. In the Nevesink Hills and in 

 one or two other localities, it occurs as a soft sandstone, con- 

 taining hollow casts of several characteristic fossil shells of the 

 greensand formation. Throughout much of the central portion of 

 the greensand region, this bed is in the condition of a loose sand, 

 but abounds in organic remains in the state of solid casts, showing 

 the interior form of numerous bivalve and univalve shells. The 

 thin limestone next under it being very partially developed, this 

 yellow sand generally rests in immediate contact with the green- 

 sand deposit, the two beds sometimes blending almost insensibly 

 into each other. 



Fifth. Resting upon the former and constituting the highest as- 

 certained member of the upper secondary series in the State, there 

 occurs a coarse brown ferruginous sandstone, sometimes passing 

 into a conglomerate. It is composed of translucent quartzose 

 sand, small fragments of felspar, and pebbles of white quartz, 

 cemented together by a dark brown paste of oxide of iron. 

 The green mineral in detached grains is likewise a common 

 ingredient. The position of this rock is usually upon the summits 

 of the insulated outlying hills, which rise occasionally above the 

 general plain of the " marl region." 



In employing for these upper secondary deposits of the State, 

 the title of " greensand series," and for one member of the group 

 that of the "greensand formation," I wish not to convey the 

 impression that I regard these strata as the equivalents in the 

 strict sense of the word, of the greensand formation, so called, 

 of Europe. The remarkable abundance of the green granular 



