116 



They consist merely of a few rather imperfect relics of one or 

 two species of fishes, some indistinct impressions oi fucoides, or 

 other aquatic vegetation, and occasional thin bands of a ligniform 

 coal, in which the fibrous structure, apparently that of the wood, 

 is traceable. The other organic remains, particularly of the 

 fishes, imply a date somewhere intermediate between that of the 

 coal and that of the greensand, and indeed suggest it as 

 probable that the deposition of these beds commenced at an 

 early period after the elevation of the carboniferous and other 

 strata of the Appalachian series. That they are not so recent as 

 the greensand or neiver secondary strata of the State, is proved 

 by their passing unconformahly beneath that group, along the 

 whole of their common boundary, from near Trenton to the Ra- 

 ritan river, and that they are more modern than the coal is, I 

 think not less conclusively shown by their reposing unconform- 

 ahly, and without signs of disturbance, upon the lower members 

 of the Appalachian rocks, in districts of the country where the 

 uptilting of these, and of the carboniferous strata at the top of the 

 same series, has obviously been contemporaneous. 



A remarkable feature in the stratification of the whole of this 

 red sandstone belt, is the almost invariable inclination of its beds 

 to the northwest or north, towards the base of the Highlands, 

 where the older secondary strata are to be seen in many places 

 with a steep southeastern dip, passing beneath these newer rocks, 

 which therefore abut against them in the opposite direction. Had 

 any portion of these red rocks been produced at a period previous 

 to the last, and incomparably most violent disturbance, which 

 shook the great Appalachian basin, and which originated most, 

 if not all, of the principal axes of elevation in the Highlands 

 and the region to the northwest, laying bare the coal and all its 

 attendant rocks, it is extremely difficult to conceive how they 

 should have remained unaffected in their gentle northwestern 

 inclination. 



Later, therefore, than the carboniferous rocks, and earlier 

 than the greensand, the most appropriate title claimed by this 

 group of strata, would seem to be that of the middle secondary 

 series. Though they present an obvious analogy in general 

 aspect and composition to the new red sandstone rocks of Europe, 



