272 E. A. Smith — Bemarks on a paper of 0. Meyer. 



pothesis of the newer age of the nummulitic limestone without 

 any proof, he does so in contradiction to Lyell's direct and 

 specific statement of what he had actually seen. (This Journal, 

 1847, pp. 188, 189, 190.) It is because the evidences of super- 

 position are so numerous and unmistakable, that all geologists 

 who have ever examined the country have never questioned it. 



I have some sections to present which will remove all doubt, 

 if only we can agree upon what we mean by the terms White 

 limestone, and the Claiborne ferruginous sands. I have al- 

 ready said what I mean by the former. By the latter, I mean 

 the stratum about 15 to 17 feet thick, occurring about midway 

 of the Claiborne bluff (equal to e of Meyer's section) consisting 

 of a reddish ferruginous sand full of the fossils described by 

 Lea and Conrad as the Claiborne fossils. This sand is in its ap- 

 pearance and fossil contents unmistakable by any one who 

 has ever seen it once. 



The proofs which I wish to offer are of two kinds, viz : (a) 

 direct superposition, and (b) the geographical position of the 

 outcrop. 



a. From direct superposition. 



Immediately overlying the red ferruginous sands contain- 

 ing the Claiborne fossils — there are about three feet of fer- 

 ruginous sands with hard ledges filled with Scutella Lyelli. 

 This Scutella bed is indicated by/ in Meyer's section at Clai- 

 borne, and it may be seen at all the localities cited below. 

 Close above this Scutella bed is a White limestone — in places 

 very argillaceous — sometimes sandy and glauconitic, which is 

 demonstrably the lower part of the White limestone series as 

 above limited. This is seen 



1. At Claiborne* Here there are to be seen between 50 

 and 60 feet of the clayey and glauconitic limestone (h and i of 

 Meyer's section) — overlying the Claiborne ferruginous sands 

 and the Scutella bed. On going from the plateau on which the 

 town of Claiborne stands — up to Perdue Hill, the upper strata 

 of the White limestone, containing Orbitoides Mantelli, may be 

 seen in many places near the road, thus proving the correctness 



* The lower part of the Claiborne bluff below the ferruginous sand, which is 

 spoken of by Tuomey, Winchell and others as a limestone, has no resemblance 

 whatever to the "White limestone." It is in fact rather a series of fossiliferous 

 calcareous sands, and calcareous clays, than a limestone. 



I can further assert from personal knowledge, that there is, below what I have 

 just defined as the White limestone, nothing whatever in the whole series of 

 Alabama Tertiary strata (at least from the Alabama river westward), which could 

 with any propriety be called a limestone, unless an occasional bed of indurated 

 shell marl, seldom if ever exceeding 15 to 20 feet in thickness, might be so desig- 

 nated. 



Meyer's section on p. 69 which he says must supersede all previously made 

 sections, describes d as " color a bluish gray" 26 feet, but whether the material 

 is sand, clay, or limestone, he does not say. 



