54 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



character of the fauna. An open and attractive field remains, however, for 

 future workers and an increase in the census of the fauna is desirable and 

 possible. The fossils here described and illustrated constitute the only 

 accessible and established record of the species of these rocks. 



Stratigraphy. The sandstones, conglomerates and arenaceous shales of 

 this band of strata now included within the designation Moose River sand- 

 stone, are folded into low and much abraded anticlines generally having a 

 northeast parallelism but much disturbed by breaking down along cross lines, 

 so that an extreme irregularity of attitude is very noticeable in them. The 

 homoeeneous character of the sediments and their much disturbed condition 

 combine to make it extremely difficult to unravel the actual succession of 

 faunas. Indeed there is now no basis on which fully to establish any such 

 difference of position in different members of the congeries here described 

 and hence with our present knowledge we are compelled to assume the 

 species here presented to be members of one fauna. In the absence of an 

 exact knowledge of the stratigraphic and paleontologic succession, we never- 

 theless recognize certain differences in the local assemblages of fossils and 

 this is brought out by the occurrence of a compact fauna carrying the 

 species of the typical arenaceous Oriskany of central New York, such as 

 Rensselaeria ovoides, S p i r i f e r arenosus, Hipparionyx 

 proximus and these occur together almost to the exclusion of the species 

 elsewhere prevailing in the sandy shales. 



Of the Oriskany sandstone of this region, Hitchcock has written as 

 follows : [1S61, p. 243] 



ORISKANY SANDSTONE 



Although the Oriskany sandstone of Maine is wholly located in the 

 wild lands, its general character and some of its fossils are better known than 

 those of any other fossiliferous rock in the State ; for by a wonderful agency 

 of nature, to be presently described, fragments of this rock with fossils are 

 scattered all over the settled districts, southeast of the rock in place. 

 Boulders of these fossils have been found along the seacoast from Saco to 

 Eastport, some of which have been carried over 1 50 miles. There is not a 

 geological collection in the State in which specimens of these fossils are not 

 found, and eenerallv thev are from boulders in the vicinity of the collection. 



