J. F. JAMES — THE GENUS SCOLITHUS. 



33 



were said to penetrate " in straight lines to great depths in the rocks, and from 

 their frequency and parallelism determining its cleavage in nearly vertical planes. 

 These markings are of a flattened cylindrical form, from \ to T V of an inch hroad, 

 giving the surface of the fractured rock a ribbed appearance, and resembling 

 perforations in sand which have been subsequently filled up without destroying 

 the distinctness of the original impression." .Similar markings arc stated to be 

 found higher up in the series.* The form here described is now recognized as 

 Scolithus linearis, Ilaldemann. 



In 1842 Lardner Vanuxem referred to certain fucoids found in the Oneida con- 

 glomerate, near New Hartford Center, New York. He described them as smooth, 

 cylindrical and ramose, many about | of an inch in diameter, and arranged verti- 

 cally in the rock.f It is possible that this form is the same as that subsequently 

 described and illustrated by Professor Hall. Vanuxem did not, however, give the 

 fossil any name. 



In 1843 Professor James Hall % illustrated Fucoides verticalis, stating that it consisted 

 of small, round stems extending vertically through the strata, as if they had been 

 growing at the time 

 the sand was depos- 

 ited around them. 

 They are said to al- 

 ways characterize the 

 upper part of the Por- 

 tage group (see figure 

 2) . Whether the same 

 or not, a species under 

 the name of Scolithus 

 verticalis was described 

 by Hall in 1852 as oc- 

 curring in the Medina 

 sandstone. > ; If the two 

 forms are to be consid- 

 ered as distinct, that 

 from the .Medina must 

 receive a new name.|| 



In L847 appeared the firsl illustration ami the second description of Scolithus 

 linearis. It was by Professor Hall, in volume 1 of the Paleontology of New York, 

 page 3. It was referred to by him as possibly a plant, though no opinion is ex- 

 pressed as to its affinities. He said it was " apparently confined to the Potsdam 

 sandstone," and it occurs in the valley of hake ( 'ham plain, near Adams, Massachu- 

 setts, in sandstone of the same age in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, "and it may 

 he traced in the same rock through Maryland and Virginia to Tennessee." Figures 



are given of specimens from Adams Massachusetts, and from Pennsylvania. Those 



• Geology of the Virginias. Report of Progress of the Geol. Sur. of Virginia for 1837. Reprint 

 edition, 1884, p. 168. 

 f Geology of New York, Third Geol. District, 1842, p. 76. 



i leology of New Fork, Report ol F th Geol. District, 1843, p. 242. 



I Paleontology of \. v.. \..i. ii. 1862, p. 6. 

 For this I would proposi the name S. elintont nsis, as there cannol be two species of similar name 

 in the same genus. 



V- Bi n. Gboi 3oi \-.i . \ ol. 3, 1891. 



Ficnu: 2 — Scolithus verticalis, Hall (sp.). {After Hall.) 



