PAPERS ON GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 337 



In speaking of the preserving characteristics of this 

 slate, Professor E. D. Cope, the noted paleontologist, 

 wrote. "It will be worth while to make further examina- 

 tion in the slates, which are the best I have seen for the 

 preservation of paleozoic fishes." 



Among the animals thus found encased are large types 

 of what for lack of a better English name 1 will call water 

 fleas, a simple type of crustacean, some with carapaces 

 or body casements plain, and some with carapaces cover- 

 ed with many lines of minute scales. Extending back 

 from the sinus, or incurved beak portion, were several 

 segments that terminated in two spines. This is true at 

 least of some of the species. Creatures allied to this 

 crustacean type are now quite small and are found in 

 ponds, but in the slate one can find the carapaces alone 

 from three to six or more inches long. From the abun- 

 dance of the remains, one is forced to believe that these 

 creatures constituted one of the leading features of the 

 life of that sea or estuary, that they were of many varie- 

 ties, and that they attained not merely great size but had 

 their own beauty of form and motion. 



In the slate are found also species of nautilus and parts 

 of large shells of this order, some enclosed in nodules and 

 some not. In fact, on top of one slab I found a large nau- 

 tilus, six inches in diameter. In addition, in some of the 

 lower layers one often discovers numerous scallop shells, 

 types of which are contained both in the slate and the 

 overlying layers, showing that they had a long lease of 

 life; these are not unlike some of the forms that still 

 exist. 



Also quite frequently seen are the elegantly preserved 

 parts of what some of our authorities call the wings of 

 insects, but which from the numerous specimens examin- 

 ed seem to me the caudal or tail fin of a crustacean. In 

 addition there have been noticed what appeared to be 

 distorted fragments of a larger species of crab. On one 

 leaf there was part of the skeleton perhaps of an amphi- 

 bian, but not sufficiently defined to determine with exact- 

 ness. Thus you see that there was quite a varied fauna 

 of this minor life. 



