39 
Island on the north and east, and Key- 
port, Cliffwood, Morgans and South Am- 
boy on the south and west. Much of this 
apparent elevation of course is due to the 
terminal morainal accumulations, but is it 
not permissible to infer a slight marginal 
inflection in the Cretaceous beds, or a de- 
formation, by which the Kreischerville 
beds have been sensibly raised above 
synchronal strata on the west side of 
Arthur Kill? 
The hypothetical origin of these clay 
beds is found in the decomposition of 
granitic rocks. The clay sand and kaolin 
examined a year ago in this region pre- 
sented just such an appearance as may be 
seen anywhere where granite is under- 
going decomposition. In the geological 
chart of Staten Island prepared by Dr. 
Britton in 1880 the Archaean (?) rocks 
are shown encircling the serpentine and 
extending beyond Richmond Hill across 
the meadows north of Rossville into New 
Jersey. It seems probable that these 
rocks girdled the serpentine, and that 
their extensive decomposition furnished 
material for the Triassic north of the ser- 
pentine area, as well as clay and kaolin 
for the Kreischerville area south of it. 
Examination of these clay pits, together 
with the superficial deposits, and fur- 
ther search for fossil vestiges of life in 
them, still opens a field for research. Dr. 
Hollick’s results obtained from the Cre- 
taceous beds of Kreischerville and the 
moraine in other parts of the Island may 
possibly be further supplemented and ex- 
tended, especially in view of the fact that 
the Tertiary sands and gravels of Todt © 
Hill and vicinity have yielded fossil vege- 
table remains, as recorded by Dr. Hollick. 
RECENT LITERATURE RELATING TO 
TO STATEN ISLAND. 
Staten Island Academy. N. Y. Tribune, 
Supplement, Jan. 28th, 1900. An illus- 
trated historical sketch of the Academy, 
with cuts showing view of the exterior 
from the corner of Wall street and Stuy- 
vesant place and three of the interior. 
