136 NEW YOKK STATE MtJSEUM 



the bank are of blue and ^ray colors, and at one spot there is a 

 thick seam of lignite. The clay is not suflQciently refractory for 

 fire brick. Fragmentary plant remains were found by the writer 

 in this pit, but they are not nearly so perfect as those found in 

 the fire clay pit at Kreischerville, and which have been figured 

 and described in minute detail by Mr. Arthur HoUick of Columbia 

 College, New York City. 



Spicules have been observed in the fire clay at Kreischerville, 

 Staten Island. In the kaolin found near Kreischerville were dis- 

 covered a number of diatoms, which Dr. Ward informs me are 

 either Cocconeis placentula, Ehr., or Cocconeis pediculus, Ehr. 

 Their occurrence is also of great interest, as these kaolins are 

 known to be middle Cretaceous beyond doubt. 



Stony glacial clays occur also underlying the flats at Green 

 Ridge, Staten Island. 



One mile and a quarter northeast of Kreischer's fire brick 

 factory an excavation has been made for obtaining a micaceous 

 kaolin. About 15 feet of it are exposed. A quarter mile north 

 of this locality is the pit of the Staten Island Kaolin Co. The 

 kaolin is evidently a continuation of that exposed in Kreischer's 

 pit, but is apparently not as thick. The deposit has suffered dis- 

 turbance by the ice sheet and the layers are intermixed with the 

 till. At the northeast side of the excavation a bluish sandy clay 

 containing fragments of lignite is found to underlie the kaolin . 



As the Cretaceous clays, kaolins and yellow gravels area con- 

 tinuation of the belt extending across New Jersey, the history of 

 their deposition is the same.* 



The following analysis of kaolin from Campbell's pit on Staten 

 Island, is given in the New Jersey clay report cited above: 



Silicic acid and sand 9 i . 70 



Alg Og and Eg O3 5. 70 



H,0 70 



K. O 35 



99.45 



♦Report on clays, N. J. Geol. Surv. 1878. 



