OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 69 



there is a true coal basin ; the strata dip down at ^n angle of 

 20°, then become horizontal, and, as he believes, rise again at 

 about the same angle. He is inclined to think this a portion 

 of the Lias or Oolitic group. Many scales of ganoid fishes, 

 fish and Saurian coprolites, and minute fossil shells, resembling 

 Cypris, are found in great abundance. The plants are not 

 numerous, except in the grindstone grit under the coal ,* they 

 resemble the plants of the Lias of Europe. Some bones, said 

 to be Saurian, and perhaps Chelonian, have been found. 



Professor W. B. Rogers remarked, that the age of the Deep 

 River coal is probably the same as that of Eastern Virginia. 

 The lithological characters are the same ; the fossil plants, 

 shells, and fish found are the same in the two regions. The 

 topographical relations of the two regions are also the same. 

 He does not believe that there is a coal basin at Deep River, 

 but merely layers one over the other, all dipping at the same 

 angle, running down and thinning out against the rocks below : 

 he doubts if any great amount of coal exists there. On a 

 recent visit to the new red sandstone of Virginia, he found 

 the same fossils as in the coal measures, and the same in the 

 new red sandstone of Pennsylvania. He concludes that all 

 these formations are very nearly of the same age, more re- 

 cent than is generally supposed, and that they belong to the 

 Lias formation. 



Dr. Jackson was not certain of the existence of a true coal 

 basin there, though he thought there was as much evidence 

 of it as is generally found ; he had not, however, observed the 

 dip at the other extremity of the basin corresponding in angle 

 with that at Deep River. 



Professor Agassiz remarked, that the age of this deposit was 

 very interesting to him ; the fishes did not agree either with 

 those of the Trias of Southern Germany or the Lias of Eng- 

 land, but seemed intermediate between the two ; he was in- 

 clined to think that the new red sandstone of this country 

 belonged to a group intermediate between the Trias and Lias, 

 of which there was no representative in Europe. 



