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easily distinguished by their lithological characters and the features. 
which they impart to the physiography. Stratigraphically and faunally 
they are equally well marked. 
Between the lowest of the four series, the Mississippian limestone, 
and the lower or productive Coal Measures, composed chiefly of argil- 
laceous shale and sandstone, the separation is everywhere distinct. 
Limiting the shales above and forming the base of a series of more 
open sea deposits, known as the upper Coal Measures, is the Bethany 
limestone, of which the Erie or Triple limestone of Kansas and the 
Winterset limestone of Iowa are equivalents. In the field the thick 
limestone forms a more or less well-defined eastward facing escarp- 
ment from north-central lowa through Missouri and Kansas to Indian 
Territory. The uppermost member of the upper Coal Measuresis also 
a limestone with characteristic features. It has been traced from south- 
eastern Nebraska across Kansas into Oklahoma. These three lines 
separate with remarkable clearness the great body of strata of the 
western Mississippi basin, which lie between the Devonian and the 
Cretaceous. A wealth of information is now at hand by which the 
four series can be fully described in accordance with modern rules of 
nomenclature: the geographic distribution, the stratigraphic position, 
the lithological character and the biological definition of each is capa- 
ble of exact consideration. 
Of the three articles, that by Dr. Haworth treats of the second and 
third great subdivisions, that of Professor Prosser the third and fourth, 
and that of Professor Cragin chiefly the fourth or uppermost. 
Professor Haworth’s paper is a summary of a fuller account of the 
stratigraphy of the Kansas Coal Measures that is to appear soon. 
The formation of the lower Coal Measures to which local names are given, 
are, beginning at the base, the Cherokee shales, Oswego and Pawnee 
limestones and the Pleasanton shales. The total thickness is regarded 
as 800 feet. In the upper Coal Measures are: the Erie or Triple lime- 
stone, Thayer shales, lola limestone, Lane shales, Garnett limestone 
and Lawrence shales. Above the latter are the Oread, Lecompton, 
Topeka and other limestones up to the Cottonwood limestone. These 
are separated by beds of shales of greater or less thickness which, with 
two exceptions, are not named. ‘The aggregate thickness of the upper 
Coal Measures is placed at 1950 feet. 
The formations of the lower Coal Measures and of the lower half of 
the upper Coal Measures appear to be well defined. The exact deter 
