The Peneplaiji. — Davis. 2 1 1 
ance of a general level, with a rolling or undulating outline, 
over which the view often extends to a very great distance, in- 
terrupted only by isolated summits or ridges, usually of small 
extent. These plateaus are also intersected by valleys and 
basins, which serve to mark the arrangement of their surface 
even more definitely than the elevations. This arrangement 
will be found to correspond very exactly with that of the 
geological formation, indicating that it was caused essentially 
by the original form of the surface of these formations, and 
not by any subsequent denudation" (Geol. Conn.. 1842, 477). 
"The western primary . . . forms, within the limits of 
this state, a wide plateau . . . of so uniform an eleva- 
tion that from many points, the view extends across its en- 
tire width, and to a great distance north and south" (Ibid., 
478.) "The eastern primary, viewed from its more elevated 
points, presents the same general appearance as the western: 
that of an extensive undulating surface of nearly uniform 
elevation, diversified by detached summits" (Ibid., 482). The 
peculiar conclusion of the first of the above quotations is in- 
teresting in contrast to modern views. 
In eastern Massachusetts, dissection has gone so far that 
it would be difficult to discover an uplifted peneplain on local 
evidence alone; but in the central md western parts of the 
state, the uplands are generally so well defined and so accord- 
ant that I am at loss to understand why Professor Tarr should 
say: — "While near the coast there is a certain semblance of 
levelness, I am utterly unable to find even the appearance of 
uniformity in the more elevated sections of New England" 
(p. 358). Looking eastward from the Berkshire hills across 
the Connecticut valley lowlands -n northern Alassachusetts. 
the skyline of the central plateau is to my eyes astonishinglv 
uniform, though its altitude is over i.ooo feet. Hence it must 
be agreed that with the same facts before us, both out doors 
and on maps, our descriptions and interpretations of them do 
not correspond: one of us being impressed with the diversity 
of the u])land altitudes, and the other with their accordance. 
A 3. Tlic remains of certain peneplains arc fragmentary. 
It is urged that ten per cent of the original area of the sup- 
l)osed peneplain, now preserved in the uj^lands of Connecticut, 
is too small a fraction to serve as a l>asis of reconstruction. 
