ElvISHA MlTCHKIvI^ SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 53 



ted that they were not corals, and as soon as microscop- 

 ical sections could be prepared, they were more care- 

 fully examined, but no trace of organic structure could 

 be detected, the entire mass being* evidently a finely 

 g^rained quartz. It follows therefore, he says, that 

 this name should in the future be dropped from the 

 g-enera of fossils. He says further: "Admitting the 

 inorganic nature of these remarkable forms, their 

 origin becomes an interesting question and it is certainly 

 not easy to give a satisfactory explanation of it," but, 

 that it seems to have some analogy with cone-in-cone 

 structure which is probably due to the action of pres- 

 sure on concretionary structure when forming. In some 

 respects the two are quite distinct, but evidence of 

 pressure is clearly to be seen in both. ^ 



With this the matter seems to have been dropped ex- 

 cept a general unrest among scientists, into whose 

 hands the specimens came, that the results obtained 

 should not be final. 



The late Professor W. C. Kerr, State Geologist, 

 made a collection of these specimens with a view to 

 making an examination of them but did not live to do 

 the w^ork. That the subject might be further investi- 

 gated. Professor J. A. Holmes, State Geologist, vis- 

 ited the region and collected a large number of speci- 

 mens. For the same reason. Professor Collier Cobb, 

 at whose suggestion and under whose direction I make 

 this examination, obtained an original specimen col- 

 lected by Professor Emmons, from the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. 



With this brief history of the palaeotrochis, let us 

 examine its character, mode of occurrence, etc. 



1. American Journal of Science, Vol. XIvV. p. 219. 



