450 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Aug., 



Luther, 5 in his Economic Geology of Onondaga County, New York 

 (p. 282), saj's: "On the east shore, near Staghorn Point, is a very 

 remarkable bed of fossil corals. It is a solid mass of cyathophylloid 

 or cup corals, together with other genera. It is 5 feet thick at the 

 thickest place, and is exposed along the shore, near the level of the 

 water, for a distance of a quarter of a mile or more. Thousands of 

 specimens, some of them 10 or 12 inches long, and sufficiently sug- 

 gestive of staghorns to give the name to the point, are in sight in 

 the lay#r or loose in the water. This coral reef, or a similar one at 

 about the same horizon, is exposed at Lord's Hill, several miles 

 northeast, and along the hillside w T est of Otisco Lake. From its 

 position it seems probable that this bed is the eastern extension of 

 the Encrinal band of the western counties, which abounds in cyatho- 

 phylloid corals of the same species." 



Cleland, 6 in his Fauna of the Hamilton Formation of the Cayuga 

 Lake Section in Central New York (p. 85), after refering to Luther's 

 observations, says: "Since in Ontario, Seneca, and Cayuga Counties 

 the most abundant coral faunas are in the Basal Hamilton, either 

 this coral reef at Skaneateles Lake is (1) a continuation of the stratum 

 called the 'Basal Hamilton,' which is several hundred feet above 

 the Alarcellus shales in the Cayuga Lake section, or (2) the Encrinal, 

 or (3) the union of (1) and (2), or (4) a separate stratum." Lower 

 on the same page we find: "East of Cayuga Lake the correlation 

 of the coral zones is yet to be worked out. However, conditions of 

 sedimentation, such as would produce a limestone stratum anywhere 

 in the Middle Hamilton, would be adapted to and contain what 

 might be called a limestone fauna which would not differ materially 

 from the fauna of the Encrinal; and whether this stratum were 

 continuous or not, the same association of fossil would probably 

 exist." 



Leaving the interesting question of the possible equivalency of 

 the Staghorn Point reefs with "the Encrinal" or some other of the 

 western lime bands, let us return to the much nearer coral layers 

 which are found to the east and northeast of Staghorn Point. 

 Luther's locality of "Lord's Hill" I have so far been unable to 

 identify with absolute certainty, but the exposures on the "hillside 

 west of Otisco Lake" are numerous and probably most of them have 

 been visited. These latter are known to exhibit an approximately 

 northwest and southeast outcrop for about 3 miles, and as the 



5 Luther, D. D., Rep. N. Y. State Geologist, 1895. 



6 Cleland, H. F., Bull. 206, U. S. G. S. 



