1897,] Geology and Paleontology. 225 
The Atlantic Coast Eocene.—A study of the Middle Atlantic 
Coast Plain, with a view to its correlation with the Gulf region, by Wm. 
B. Clark, has recently been published by the U. S. Geol. Surv. The 
author reviews critically the characteristics of the Eocene strata as de- 
veloped in the States of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. While the 
geological and stratigraphical data are examined with care, it is the 
paleontological record to which is given the most attention. Accord- 
ingly the report includes an exhaustive study of the fauna of the region 
under discussion, together with a critical review of the species described 
by previous authors, as well as the description of a number of new forms. 
Briefly stated, the Eocene deposits of the Middle Slope are typically 
glauconitic, with an average thickness somewhat in excess of 200 feet. 
The organic remains consist largely of shells of mollusks, whose appear- 
ance indicates that they were but slightly disturbed prior to their burial 
in the sediments in which they are now found. 
The fact that the strata are so largely made up of secondary mate- 
rials shows that the position of accumulation was in the vicinity of a 
coast reached by no large rivers bearing sediment, while also, for the 
most part, sufficiently removed from the coast-line to be unaffected by 
shore conditions. These deposits, also, were very slowly accumulated. 
These conditions were markedly different from those prevailing in the 
Gulf region. There numerous large rivers discharged great quantities 
of material, so that the strata of the Middle Atlantic Slope must be 
represented in the Gulf by deposits many times their thickness. 
After considering all the facts, the writer is decidedly of the opinion, 
“that the deposits under discussion represent the greater portion of the 
Eocene series of the Gulf, its upper mèmbers excepted. Compared 
with the section originally described by Prof. E. A. Smith, in the Ala- 
bama area, it undoubtedly comprises all or the major part of the Lig- 
hitic, Buhrstone and Claiborne, and, perhaps, also portions of higher 
horizons ; but, regarding this latter point the necessary paleontological 
evidence is wanting. The reference does not, however, necessarily in- 
Volve the assumption that the basal beds of the Potomac section are the 
exact equivalents of the Lignitic, since deposition may have commenced 
somewhat earlier than in the other, although the difference in time was 
nvt great.” (Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., No. 141, 1896.) 
Glacio-Marine Beds of Europe.—Among the important ob- 
servations made by Col. H. W. Fielden during his recent explorations 
of Arctic Europe was one concerning the deposition of glacio-marine 
beds, Owing to the rapid elevation of the Spitzbergen region, it 1s 
