GEOLOGY. 311 



as the trunks of the fossil trees are always at right angles to the strata, 

 the latter must have been lifted since they grew. The formation con- 

 sists of alternate marine shales and beds of coal. The coal seam 

 which is worked is four feet in thickness, and, on going into the mines 

 with a lamp, one passes directly beneath the roots of fossil trees. 



FOSSIL FISH IX THE COAL ROCKS OF OHIO. 



MR. J. "W. FOSTER, in a communication to Silliman's Journal, Sept., 

 states: "While at Zanesville, recently, I discovered a locality in 

 the carboniferous series, rich in the remains of fishes. Associated 

 with them were several species of molluscs and corals, and even the 

 delicate fronds of the Neuropteris. I have never before observed a 

 locality where the forms of animal and vegetable life were so confusedly 

 mingled. I have also succeeded in procuring beautifully preserved 

 teeth from the limestone of Cambridge, belonging to this series the 

 existence of which I had known for several years. Within the last 

 few years it has been proved that the occurrence of the remains of 

 fishes in many of the western groups of rocks is by no means rare. 

 In the Clinton group, at the base of the Upper Silurian, as developed 

 in the Lake Superior district, we have detected markings similar to 

 those in the same group in New York, made by some vertebrated ani- 

 mal, probably a fish. Mr. Joseph Sullivant has observed the remains 

 of fishes, consisting of teeth, scales and fins, in numerous instances, in 

 the cliff limestone of Columbus, (Upper Silurian,) and Prof. Agassiz, 

 in a recent visit to the quarries, was enabled to collect numerous speci- 

 mens, and we may hope, ere long, to receive exact information as to 

 the character of these ancient species. 







ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CRINOIDEA IN THE WESTERN STATES. 



THE following is an abstract of a communication made to the Amer- 

 ican Association, Cincinnati, by Dr. Yandell, of Louisville, Ky., on 

 the " Distribution of Crinoidea in the Western States." 



For several years past, said Dr. Yandell, I have been engaged, con- 

 jointly with Dr. Shumard, in collecting the Crinoids of the Western 

 States, with reference to the continuation of the work undertaken on that 

 subject by the late lamented. Dr. Troost. We have already collected 

 about thirty genera and more than two hundred species, showing that 

 our country is richer than any other part of the world in the remains 

 of these curious tenants of the deep. 



They are found in the oldest rocks which retain any vestiges of or- 

 ganic beings. Dr. Shumard has discovered them in the sandstones of 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, which correspond to the Potsdam sandstone 

 of New York. At first they are few in number, and occur in frag- 

 me^its ; but in the later formations they become abundant in the equiv- 

 alents of the Niagara group, and attain their full development in the 

 carboniferous system. They are of limited range, a species often be- 

 ing found in only a single locality, and rarely extending over an area 

 of many miles. Not one is clearly common to this country and Eu- 



