NOVEMBER 26, 1897.] 
and the various draws and breaks on Little 
Sandy creek, Chatman creek, Bear creek, Bluff 
creek and Hackberry creek, where the Creta- 
ceous formation, is extensively exposed. The 
following is a brief summary of the general 
results: 
The Cheyenne formation rests everywhere 
unconformably upon the Red Beds, occasionally 
with a gravel bed at its base. It is a good 
geological unit, clearly marked off from the 
overlying Kiowa, the lowest member of which 
forms a thin ledge of marine shells, the Cham- 
pion of Cragin. The lower part of the Cheyenne 
is almost always a massive sandstone, often 
eross-bedded, pure white, or more frequently 
stained yellowish. It contains no admixture 
of clay, but occasional thin clay shales, and 
very rarely more or less lignite. Near its 
base silicified wood occurs, at some points in 
considerable abundance. ‘This bed, No. 1 of 
Hill, the ‘Coral Sandstone’ of Cragin, varies 
greatly in thickness, but where well preserved 
reaches 50 feet. In typical exposures this is 
overlain by some 15 feet of carbonaceous shales, 
consisting largely of dark, sandy, stratified 
clays, much lignite, and abundant vegetable 
remains, usually matted and confused so as to 
yield few determinable impressions. This is 
the No. 2 of Hill’s section, the ‘Lamphier 
Shales’ of Cragin. Above this is the ‘Stokes 
Sandstone’ of Cragin, Hill’s No. 3, having a 
thickness of some ten feet and consisting of 
stratified sandstone of a somewhat darkish or 
grayish color, considerably argillaceous and 
carbonaceous and often holding plant impres- 
sions. The character and relations of these 
upper beds, however, were found to vary so 
extensively that this subdivision has very little 
value. A large collection of fossil plants, 
amounting to 44 boxes, with an aggregate 
weight of about 3,000 pounds, was made in 
these upper beds and has been received at the 
U. 8. Geological Survey. 
The Cheyenne is confined exclusively to what 
may be called the Belvidere region, chiefly 
along Medicine Lodge river, as above noted, 
but passing southward along the head of Elk 
ereek, across Mule creek and Indian creek, 
some six miles southeast of Nescatunga, form- 
ing a sort of crescent. It does not occur in the 
SCIENCE. 
815 
Avilla Hill nor anywhere in Clark county, so 
far as Mr. Ward was able to observe; the rocks 
of the former region, supposed by Prosser to 
represent the Cheyenne, being wholly different 
and belonging to the lower Kiowa beds, under- 
lain by black papyraceous shales; and the Big 
Basin Sandstone, which Prosser also referred 
to the Cheyenne, being clearly, as Cragin states, 
nothing but the upper indurated portion of the 
Red Beds, the top of which is almost always 
whitened. 
Perhaps the most important result of this 
expedition was the discovery of the true base 
of the Dakota group in a series of remarkable 
beds, nearly 200 feet in thickness and not 
hitherto described, forming an uninterrupted 
transition from the Kiowa Shales, holding Gry- 
pheea and Exogyra, to the typical Dakota Sand- 
stone, yielding characteristic dicotyledonous 
leaves, a small collection of which was made. 
Mr. C. N. Gould, who was a member of Mr. 
Ward’s party, and who had previously seen 
most of these deposits, will soon publish a 
paper setting forth their relations in detail. 
Under the title ‘The Geological Sequence 
in Jamaica,’ Mr. Robert T. Hill presented an 
account of the stratigraphic succession in Ja- 
maica, describing the various rocks of igneous, 
sedimentary, oceanic and organic origin and 
their relations. Mr. Hill’s paper was an ex- 
tract from his report to Professor A. Agassiz, 
under whose auspices the studies were made. 
In discussing the elevated coral reefs he stated 
that there can be no possible doubt but that 
they were formed around emerging land, as 
held by Agassiz. 
W. F. MorsE.Lt. 
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES—SECTION OF 
GEOLOGY—NOVEMBER 15, 1897. 
THE first paper of the evening was by Dr. F. 
J. H. Merrill, of the State Museum at Albany, 
entitled ‘Geology of the Vicinity of Greater 
New York.’ Dr. Merrill considered the distri- 
bution, relations and structure of the Crystal- 
line, Metamorphic and Intrusive rocks east of 
the Hudson. He noted particularly in the 
vicinity of New York City the Pre-Cambrian 
Fordham Gneiss, overlain at certain places, as 
