E. A. Smith — Remarks on a paper of 0. Meyer. 271 



limestone of the Cretaceous. This lower part of the limestone 

 contains also numbers of Spondylus dumosus, and vertebrae of 

 Zeuglodon cetoides. These facts concerning the character and 

 contents of the White limestone I give from personal observa- 

 tions. By many writers the upper part of this limestone has 

 been considered equivalent to the Vicksburg, and the lower, to 

 the Jackson divisions, but for our purposes it will be sufficient 

 to define as above what we term the " White limestone." 



Before offering any proof of the relative position of the 

 White limestone and the Claiborne sands, it may be well to 

 call attention to very important omissions of Dr. Meyer in his 

 quotations of Sir Charles Lyell. 



In Dr. Meyer's paper, page 61, we find the following re- 

 marks on an extract from a letter of Lyell published in 

 this Journal, II, vol. i, pp. 313-315. " In this letter Lyell 

 speaks on several subjects and says, of the Nummulitic lime- 

 stone, that it had been referred to a pre-Tertiary age, but he 

 considers it even younger than the Claibornean, ' for it occurs 

 on higher places than the Claiborne bluff, a circumstance 

 which, in a region where the stratification is horizontal, would 

 imply a newer deposit, even if the section near Suggsville, and 

 ClarJcesville, SHOWING SUPERPOSITION had been less satisfactory. 

 I did not meet with the limestone in question in the bluff at 

 Claiborne which I have no doubt is owing to the fact that the 

 calcareous strata are cut off at the top before they extend up- 

 ward into the nummulitic beds.'" 



Dr. Meyer omits all the words in italics, and thus carefully 

 excludes the proof of superposition which Lyell brings for- 

 ward ; and then charges him with putting forth an hypothesis 

 without proof. Moreover, in allusion to the diagram published 

 by Lyell, in this Journal, II, vol. iv, pages 188-189, showing a 

 section from Bettis' Hill in Clarke County to Claiborne, in 

 which the White limestone is very distinctly represented as 

 occurring at the top of the Claiborne bluff, Dr. Meyer insinu- 

 ates that Lyell represented the dip, etc., not as he observed it, 

 but as he needed it for his hypothesis. That Sir Charles, in 

 saying that he did not observe at Claiborne the limestone in 

 question, meant the upper or nummulitic part, is very evident 

 from the figure referred to as well as from the words of Lyell 

 quoted.* Indeed, Lyell's whole description of the relative posi- 

 tions of the various strata and their composition, in the region 

 between the two rivers in the latitude of Claiborne, is remark- 

 ably accurate, as any one who is at all familiar with the country 

 cannot fail to see. 



Thus, when Dr. Meyer says Lyell has put forward his hy- 



* This nummulitic part does, however, actually occur on the hill one mile south 

 of Claiborne, as shown below in § 1. 



