254 ^^^ American Geologist. October, 1904. 
north, however, this sharp distinction between the Matawan above and 
the Raritan below is less pronounced and I have always been a good 
deal puzzled by the Cliffwood section as there seemed to be a lens of 
different materials lying between the typical Raritan below and to the 
westward and the typical Matawan above and to the eastward. This 
lens it is true is more sandy in places than the typical basal beds of the 
Matawan, but it contains, on the other hand, patches of glauconitic 
materials which I have never observed in the Raritan. Furthermore, 
while the contact of the Cliffwood lens with the more characteristic 
Matawan above is not sharp and distinct* there is a marked difference 
between these materials and the typical Raritan below. 
"Considering all the evidence at hand it seemed to me that this 
lens of dark clays and laminated sands, at times glauconitic, ought 
rathev to be included with the Matawan above than with the Raritan 
below. I therefore incorporated it tentatively with the Crosswicks clays, 
or basal Matawan, to which I am still inclined to believe it belongs 
since reading your article on the paleobotany. It is not surprising that 
a large proportion of Raritan plant species still continue on into the 
lower Matawan as the same takes place in the formations below the 
Raritan in Maryland and Virginia. ... It would not be surprising 
that with the advent of Matawan deposition certain small included areas 
of deposition might exist at the time of the encroachment of the sea 
which would be contemporaneous with the more distinctly marine 
facies elsewhere. The production of glauconite is an .extremely signi- 
ficant fact and is characteristic of the opening of Matawan deposition 
throughout the entire region to the southwestward as far as the Poto- 
mac valley where the Matawan finally disappears by the transgression 
of the Eocene. It is irregularly glauconitic and often sandy south of 
the Delaware although no fossil leaves have been found as 3^et. 
"The point at issue does not strike me as of any great importance 
and if further investigation should show conclusively that these beds 
at Cliffwood should be included in the Raritan I should have no hesi- 
tancy in accepting the results. I think the data thus far furnished, 
however, point more strongly to the Matawan than to the Raritan, but 
here is a chance for an honest difference of opinion." 
Personally I have not studied the expostire to the south- 
westward, nor do I feel competent to pass judgment on the 
stratigraphic details, and I desire in the following notes to set 
forth the evidence that is furnished by the plant remains. 
The typical Raritan flora contains numerous old types, rep- 
resentatives of plants from the arctic Urgonian (Kome beds), 
such as Gleichcnia rnicromera Heer; representatives of Cyca- 
dinocarpiis, which is almost exclusively a Triassic and Jti- 
rassic genus; representatives of Ccckanoivskia which is a 
* This statement should be qualified considerably. 
