120 The American Geologist. February imi 
sandstone and tlie blue clay of the Tiu'iniicari urea with the 
Jurassic system or period. Many years after — 1881) — a thor- 
ough exploration of the Tucunieari region by Mr. A. Hyatt 
disclosed in the limestone strata just above the blue clay con- 
taining the (1 ruplid'n tiiciinicdn'i an upper Jurassic fauna, of 
at least twenty species, which are referred to in a paper "The 
Jura in Texas" (Proceed. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc. vol, 27, p. 
149-158). It is unnecessary to repeat here what was said in 
that paper, which gives all the reasons for correlating the se- 
ries of strata of the Tueumcari area and those of the Kent 
section (western Texas), as well as those of the Bosque, Glen 
Rose or Trinity of eastern Texas and the Trinity division of 
Pike county, Arkansas, with the Jura of Euroj^e. Only I shall 
say that the extraordinary, erroneous correlations of those 
strata, first with Dakota formation and afterward with the 
Neoconiian, have made confusion in the historic geology of 
North America and are still preventing tlie Texas Survey and 
the U. S. Geological Survey from using a correct classification 
of one of the most important systems of the Mesozoic. 
The Laramee Formation and the Puerco Beds. 
One of the most uncalled for and wrong classifi(;ations is 
the age assigned to a great mass of strata of fresh water, with 
now and then brackish water deposits existing in the plains 
and Rocky mountain region, more specially round fort Lara- 
mee* (wrongly spelled Laramie). Dr. Hayden first discovered 
that formation in 1859 and properly referred it to the Ter- 
tiary. Thickness about 1,000 feet. It is composed mainly 
of molasses or sandstones, not unlike the Molasses of Switzer- 
land, with shales, pure sands, and sometimes coal strata, with 
a few and rare calcareous beds. It rests in retrogressive 
stratification on the marine strata of the Upper Cretaceous, 
called Fox Hills group and Fort Pierre group or Montana for- 
mation, containing a fauna the exact equivalent of the Upper 
White Chalk of England and France. 
The geographical distribution of the Laramee is very differ- 
ent from the distribution of the Montana formation,and shows 
a great change in the distribution of the land and water, Just 
like the one so well known in the classic basin of Paris and 
*Laramee is the name of the fii'st French voyageur who explored and 
trapped on La Platte river, at the beginning of this century. Laramee, 
Laflamme, Lafontaine are common names among French Canadians. 
