lOO The American Geologist. August, looi 
sea, when the 40- foot terrace was being formed, and therefore 
the up-stream portion of the 40- foot terrace. 
In 1897 the Cape May formation is defined as developed in 
terraces running;- from 30 to 50 feet in liiolit. It is regarded as 
part glacial and perhaps in part younger. It is named from 
Cape May county, New Jersey, where it is typically developed 
and is regarded as including nmch of the low-level Jamesburg, 
and also much of the Trenton gravel. 
The high-level Jamesburg (High-Level Loam) is still rec- 
ognized, but the statement is made that it cannot be mapped. 
Professor Salisbury suggests that the high-level Jamesburg is 
a part of the Cape May formation, and represents a brief sub- 
sidence of the Coastal Plain of that region, amounting to 200 
feet or more, at the close of the last glacial period. He also 
states that the formation is very hard to distinguish and difficult 
to be sure of. 
A later view was expressed by professor Salisbury on De- 
cember 28, 1900, when in the course of official correspondence 
with the Maryland Geological Survey, he said: "You will no- 
tice that in the later reports I have not used the word James- 
burg * * ''' I now regard it as a phase of the Cape May 
fonuation." 
VIEWS OF THE WRITER. 
For a number of field seasons, the author of this paper has 
been engaged in the investigation of the surficial deposits of 
Maryland. Reconnoissance work has been extended over the 
entire Coastal Plain, and a number of counties have been al- 
ready mapped in detail. In pursuing these investigations, he 
has made free use of the methods of homogeny, and the corre- 
lation of the deposits thus established has necessitated not only 
the introduction of some changes in the classification and inter- 
pretations as suggested by Mr. Darton, but also has shown that 
the classification adopted by Prof. Salisbury for the New Jer- 
sey area is in no measure applicable to Maryland. 
The key to the solution of the relations existing between the 
surficial deposits of Maryland lies almost exclusively, according 
to the author, in a correct correlation of the various terraces in 
which thev are developed throughout the Coastal Plain. In 
Maryland, five principal terraces are distinguished, lying one 
above the other, the oldest occupying the highest and the 
