PEOF. BAREIS. XOTES OX OUK LOCAL (iEOLOGV NO. II. 163 



Notes on Our Local Geolog-y — No.II. 



BY PROF. W. H. BARKIS. 



The tiiscovery of a well preserved and graceful form of life char- 

 acterizing- the ancient flora of the coal measures is a welcome event 

 to the student of paleontology- 



If found detached from all its ordinary surroundings, translated in- 

 to another and entirely different geological horizon, having its home 

 at the base or below the well known Hamilton Group, a still greater 

 measure of interest attaches to its discovery. 



During the past summer Mr. Wm. A. Elmer, one of our College 

 students, collected several fragments of a sea plant which, even as 

 fragments, naturally awakened considerable curiosity. At his re- 

 quest and in company we visited the locality in which they had been 

 found. 



The quarry was not in a hill-side but on a dead level. It had been 

 exposed by simply stripping a foot or two of earth from its surface. 

 An excavation had then been made in the rock, measuring in length 

 over a hundred feet, in breadth twenty or thirty, in depth ten or 

 twelve feet. In the progress of their labors the workmen had en- 

 countered a bank of clay crossing the quarry diag(jnally about four 

 feet wide and extending downward the whole depth of the quarry. 

 On its roughened floor could be traced the course of this dyke of clay, 

 while in the wall on either side marking its ingress and egress, and 

 done in fine blue clay, was a well defined cross section of its height 

 and breadth. Selecting that side which seemed to promise the most 

 favorable results we commenced work. Beginning at the surface 

 and digging into the bank, we purposed to enter it at such an angle 

 that, by the time we reached the bottom of the quarry, we should 

 have exposed a level space of three or four feet square. There was 

 little to distinguish the first foot or two from ordinary earth ; if any- 

 thing, a gradual change in color shading from yellow to blue. The 

 next few feet revealed a more uniform, consistent character of tough 

 blue clay; nothing in it as yet to indicate any foreign material. At 

 the last the clay became still more tenacious, of the consistency of 

 what is termed "fire clay," and charged with more and more of aren- 

 aceous matter. The layers bore every appearance of being deposited 

 in quiet waters, while their surfaces were occasionally mottled by an 

 extended film of carbonaceous substance, yet so poorly preserved we 

 could trace no distinct intimation of organized life. 



