NOTES ON THE FOSSIL FISHES OF THE GENESEE 

 AND PORTAGE BLACK SHALES. 



BY HERBERT UPHAM WILLIAMS. 



I propose giving here a short account of the fossil remains 

 of fishes found in the Genesee and Portage black shales 

 or their equivalents, with a few original observations. These 

 shales are exposed at a number of places near Buffalo, but are 

 best shown along the shore of Lake Erie for a few miles south 

 of Eighteen Mile Creek. They usually have a slaty cleavage. 

 They contain a very large amount of bituminous matter, and are 

 somewhat like cannel coal in appearance. Nodules of iron 

 pyrites are often seen. Septaria frequently occur, sometimes of 

 very large size. Among the fossil remains are Crinoids, Brachi- 

 opods, Gasteropods, and other Mollusks, and large numbers of 

 land plants. 



The equivalent of these strata in Ohio is known by Dr. New- 

 berry as the Huron shale, from which a number of fishes have 

 been collected. Mr. F. H. Bradley found remains of a species 

 of Palaeoniscus in Kentucky, in that formation. From the same 

 group in Ohio, Newberry has described specimens of the fol- 

 lowing genera : Dinichthys, Aspidichthys, Cladodus, and Ctenacan- 

 thus. The first of these was a gigantic and very remarkable 

 Placoderm. Mr. E. N. S. Ringueberg, in the American Journal 

 of Science for June, 1884, gave an account of a very small spe- 

 cies of Dinichthys, of which a dorsal shield was found in the 

 Portage rocks of Sturgeon Point. This is, I believe, all that is 

 definitely known of the fish remains of the Genesee and Portage 

 shales, or their equivalents. 



A careful observer cannot fail to notice scales and bones of 

 fishes scattered over the slabs of slaty shale, often associated 

 with land plants. I have collected a number of such specimens. 



