11 



town of El Paso takes its name, are cretaceous rocks 

 abounding in fossils. I was guided to them by the Rev. 

 Dr. Tays, of Frankjin. Here are ostreas, exogyras, gry- 

 pheas, and many others of well known cretaceous forms, 

 such as are common in the northern and central portions 

 of the cretaceous formation of the State — gryphea pitcheri, 

 and its large form var. Tucumcarii, this last quite common, 

 as also is Exogyra Texana, Natica Pedernalis, Ostrea 

 Marshii, and carinata, etc. In cretaceous mountains near 

 Antelope springs, about fourteen miles northeast of Fort 

 Stockton, I found Gryphea Pitcherii, Exogyra Texana, 

 Inoceramus problematicus, Nautilus Dekayii, Heteraster 

 Texanus, Cyphosonia Texana, Toxaster elegans. This 

 last is quite common west of the Pecos, and so is Trigonia 

 Texana, Amonites Texanus, and A. Leonensis, and others. 

 In short, the fossils of the cretaceous west of the Pecos 

 are many of them of the same species as those at Com- 

 anche Peak in Johnson county, and also in the cjetaceous 

 rocks in the neighborhood of Austin. Their lithological 

 characters also are similar. 



TERTIARY. 



Early last spring we passed through Guadalupe and 

 Caldwell counties, the sandstones and limestones of which 

 belong to the older tertiary. These rocks are rarely seen, 

 except in the beds of streams and on their banks. These 

 counties are well watered by many streams, have plenty 

 of timber for fencing, and fire wood, oak, elm, pecan, box 

 alder, hackberrj'-, mesquite, etc. Soil mostly a dark, rich 

 sandy loam. These are two of the finest agricultural 

 counties in the State — equal to the best, and now easy of 

 access by the nearly completed railroad from the cities of 

 Galveston and Houston to San Antonio. These counties 

 are moderately undulating, low hills, broad valleys and 

 rich prairies, skirted by woodlands. 



QUARTERNAEY. 



The valley of the Rio Grande, from where the El Paso 

 road strikes the river, about six miles below Fort Quitman, 

 northward to El Paso, has two and sometimes three 

 terraces. The two upper terraces are composed of sand 

 and gravel, the gravel often filled with large quartoze 



