22 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



were not formed in continuous water bodies coextensive with the 

 areas occupied by the deposits; but that they include confluent 

 alluvial fans formed by torrents descending from the mountain 

 walls at the margin of the area, fluvial deposits formed by rivers 

 migrating over the lowland, lacustrine deposits in places where 

 the drainage was obstructed, with probably estuarine deposits 

 in parts of the area that were covered by tidal waters, and 

 very likely eolian deposits over parts that were dry land. Geol- 

 ogists have recently come to appreciate the importance of such 

 " continental " deposits. 1 



We have next to consider the question of the position occu- 

 pied in the series of Triassic rocks by the fish-bearing beds in 

 the local section, and also the ancillary query as to the con- 

 temporaneity of deposits in the Connecticut Valley and the New 

 York-Virginia basin. For a solution of these problems extended 

 comparisons are necessary with related faunas of other regions, 

 wheresoever they may be found; and, as this phase of the dis- 

 cussion has received very little attention heretofore, we may be 

 permitted to inquire into the matter somewhat fully. This will 

 be the object of the following section. 



ij. V. Lewis, Origin and Relations of the Newark Rocks, pp. 102-108 (Geol. 

 Surv. N. J., Ann. Rept. for 1906). W. M. Davis, The Triassic Formation of Connecti- 

 cut, pp. 29-34 (18th Ann. Rept, U. S. Geol. Surv., Part ii). J. Barrell, Mud-cracks as 

 a Criterion of Continental Sedimentation (Journ. of Geol., xiv. pp. 524-568). In con- 

 nection with these writings one may consult several recent articles by J. Lomas who 

 interprets the British Trias as " filled-in desert lakes " (Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc, 

 1907, p. 183); also the Trias Reports of the British Assoc. Adv. Sci.; and Professor 

 Bonney's paper On the Origin of the Trias (Proc. Yorkshire Geol. Soc, 1906, xvi, 

 p. 1). 



