208 The American Geoloijist. April, 1895 
origin of the mountain cliain in tlie tertiary of that state and of Louisi- 
ana. In the basins and embayments formed the Eocene strata were de- 
posited, thi" very existence of which proves that tiiere was no interva. 
of a land jx'riod between tlie cretaceous and tertiary in this state, and if 
we could remove the covering mantle w(! would seethe chains and peaks 
of limestone ranges formed at the close of the middle agesof our planet, 
altered somewhat by later erosion and denudation. 
We are not prepared to agree with Dr. Lerch as to the cor- 
relation of the disturbance in Louisiana succeeding the close 
of the Cretaceous deposition, with the time of the Balcones 
faulting and the Pilot Knob volcanic activity. To discuss 
this subject fully here would require too much space. 
We will emphasize the following facts, however. The Cre- 
taceous outcrops in the area under discussion have a general 
southeast and northwest trend with knobs or peaks projecting 
along the line, and around these knobs the Eocene has been 
deposited. The occurrence of many of these projecting peaks 
would indicate a period of erosion intervening between the 
close of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Eocene. 
Furthermore, the Cretaceous at the Winn parish marble 
({uarry is almost horizontal, the limestone rising as a butte- 
like mass into the Eocene. If there had been a mountain 
chain, as Dr. Lerch maintains, with the Eocene dejDOsited im- 
mediately thereafter, before erosion had degraded the lime- 
stone, the Cretaceous rock at the place under discussion should 
represent either a dome or an anticline, but such is not the 
case. In the mind of the author the most logical explanation 
of the relation of the Cretaceous to the Eocene is that a land 
period followed the close of the deposition of the rocks be- 
longing to the former series. 
The Tertiary, 
the eocene, its characters and distribution. 
The Eocene of Louisiana has been the subject of more or 
less study ever since Conrad in ISS-t announced the existence 
of strata of that age in the state. A good resume of the earh^ 
work done on the Eocene of this state has been given b}^ Mr. 
G. D. Harris in his report, "The Tertiary Geology of South- 
ern Arkansas," pp. 177-178. 
The Eocene of this state is composed of lignitic cla3's and 
sands, the sands often cross-bedded, with the interstratifica- 
tion of beds bearing a littoral fauna; the fossiliferous beds 
