MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 95 



the sand layers. Drab is the characteristic color of the Magothy 

 clay, but here and there the presence of considerable vegetable 

 remains renders it black. The vegetable material may be finely 

 divided or may occur in the form of large pieces of lignite. Thus 

 far no bright-colored clays have been recognized in the Magothy 

 deposits. 



The Magothy can usually be differentiated from the underlying 

 Raritan formation by its lack of massive beds of brightly colored 

 variegated clay, and by the greater variability in the character of 

 its materials. It can be more easily distinguished from the over- 

 lying Matawan by the almost complete absence of glauconite 

 (although small pockets of greensand have been found in the Mag- 

 othy at a few localities), by its lack of homogeneity, and by its 

 variations in color. Moreover, the Matawan in Maryland usually 

 contains considerable amounts of mica in small flakes, whereas the 

 Magothy contains little mica. 



Paleontologic Character. — In this county the only organic remains 

 thus far recognized in the Magothy are leaf impressions in the drab 

 clays that occur in thin laminae alternating with layers of sand. 

 Berry^ has recorded Widdringtonites Reichii from the Overlook Inn 

 Road on Congress Heights, and large collections from near Bright- 

 seat and Pennsylvania Avenue extended are being studied at the 

 present time. At Cliffwood Blufl^, on the south shore of Raritan 

 Bay, New Jersey, beds of this formation have yielded a consider- 

 able flora and a marine fauna. The flora studied by Berry^ is notably 

 varied, over 100 species having been described. The flora presents 

 many points of similarity to that of the Raritan, yet it contains 

 many new species of forms characteristic of post Raritan formations 

 in other regions. The most common fossil plant of that locality 

 is represented by the imperfectly petrified cones of Sequoia gracil- 

 lima. Other common species are Cunninghamites squamosus, Dam- 

 mara cliffwoodensis, and Sequoia reiclienhaclii. Berry and Hollick 



iBull. Torrey Club, vol. XXXIII, 1906, p. 169. 



iBull. New York Bot. Card., vol III, No. 9, 1903, pp. 45-103; Bull. Torr. Bot. 

 Club, vol. XXXI, 1904, pp. 67-82; vol. XXXII, pp. 43-48; Ann. Rept. State Geol. 

 New Jersey for 1905, pp. 135-172. 



