152 
FLORIDA STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
preserved has it been possible to recognize with certainty the shell 
marls of that age. 
In the well at Ormond Hotel, Ormond, a hard sandy marl was 
encountered between 50 and 56 feet from the surface. From a sample 
of this rock, Dr. Vaughan identified Donax variabilis Say, etc. Be¬ 
tween 66 and 68 feet, a gray sandy marl was encountered which 
furnished Littorina irrorata Say, Area pexata Say and Miilinia later¬ 
alis Say. Dr. Vaughan regarded these samples as Pleistocene. At a 
depth of 66 to 90 feet, the material was still a marl but unfortunately 
the organic remains were too meager to determine whether the ma¬ 
terial was Pleistocene or Pliocene. 
The well of the Model Land and Railroad Company at West Palm 
Beach may be entirely Pleistocene, but fossils were only identified 
from samples No. 4 and No. 5. Sample No. 4 at a depth of 55-70 
feet furnished Crepidula fornicata Say, Pecten gibbus Linn., Cardium 
robustum Sol., and Venus mortoni Conrad, which were thought to be 
Pleistocene and this conclusion was strengthened by the occurrence 
of Donax variabilis Say in sample No. 5, which was obtained at a 
depth of 70-74 feet. In another well at the same locality, the Pleis¬ 
tocene marls were identified in samples extending from 8 to 57 feet. 
Gray Sand:—One of the most widespread formations of the 
Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain is a white or light gray coarse grained 
sand. Locally, some of the subsurface layers of this sand have been 
stained light yellow or even red by a deposit of iron oxide, but the 
colors when present are usually less prominent than those of the 
Lafayette formation. This material, which has commonly been called 
white sand, covers nearly all of Florida and rests unconformably upon 
the older geological formations. It forms the surface over all the 
lowlands; and much of the elevated region toward the northern end of 
the State. In the valleys the white sand forms a mantle over a large 
part of the slopes where it is arranged in more or less well defined 
terraces. Locally, the sand has been removed from hillsides by 
erosion. 
Lithologically this sand presents no marked peculiarities. It is 
everywhere coarse and is on the whole remarkably free from silt or 
clay. The sand grains are not materially different, in form, from 
those of the present beach. The quartz grains belong to the type 
commonly known as “sharp” sand, being sub-angular to sub-rotund. 
In this they differ from sands which have undergone extensive wind 
transportation and have been well rounded by violent impact with 
other sand grains when not buoyed up by liquid. There is a general 
absence of clay beds and the sands are apparently non-fossiliferous 
except near the base of the sections, which extend down nearly to 
