Related Geological Conditions 53 



organisms so perfectly preserved In the death attitude, (Fig. 

 I ) that seahng up and preservation of the organisms must 



Fig. I. Slab of rock with specimens of Bothriolepis from 

 Miguasha, New Brunswick, laid bare with many others by Prof. 

 Patten. Note headed direction of the animals. (After Patten). 



have been effected wholesale, and oftento a depth of several 

 inches or even feet within a few days at most. Otherwise, 

 and had the period been more extended, disintegration of 

 the fish, escape of the oily products, and the breaking up 

 of the skeleton would inevitably have resulted. Such actual- 

 ly seems to have been the case where "bone-beds" were 

 formed. 



As to the actual quantity of fish that had perished, and 

 of oil obtainable from rock strata, many "bone-beds" can 

 be continuously traced over hundreds of miles in America, 

 in Britain, and over the European continent. This also 

 in rocks belonging to nearly every one of the great forma- 

 tions. From many indications even, suggested by the 

 stratigraphic, the lithologic, the palaeontologic, and geo- 

 chemic standpoints, the writer would not be surprised to 

 learn in time that some of these bone-beds have a lineal 

 continuity for a thousand to fifteen hundred miles. 



