On the Transition Roclis of the Cataraqui 97 



So rare are the vestiges of animated nature, in this vast deposit of 

 calcareous matter, that during a series of three years of constant labor 

 in opening large quarries, but one solitary, although very perfect tri- 

 lobite was discovered, and that in the uppermost bed; whilst all other 

 fossils were nearly as uncommon, terebratuiie being the only other relics 

 of former ages that were found, and those are generally very scarce, 

 and very minute* Ortlioceratitcs have, indeed, been occasionally 

 observed, but not in the quarries, and h is, as yet, questionable, 

 whether those we have already mentioned in the commcjiceniont of 

 this essay, were really in situ, or belonging to transported masses.* 



One caste of a large shell, so much altered, as not to be recogni- 

 zable, as of any known genus, has lately been obtained, the oiiginul 

 matrix, having been filled with lydian stone, or basanite, which 

 is also frequently met with in the shape of little round protuberances. 



Nearly forty beds of this stone have been laid bare, either in the 

 course of quarrying, or in sinking wells ; and it is probable, from 

 observations of denuded bassets, on the slope towards the Lake, that 

 there are upwards of sixty seven more, in a total altitude of one hun- 

 dred and twenty feet above Lake Ontario, some of diese layers 

 reaching to the enormous thickness of six feet. 



It is remarkable that those beds which approach the level of the 

 Lake, or in otiier words, are the lowest, have the same tendency to 

 a whiter color, and a more argillo-silicious aspect, as those which 

 are near the surface, and which indeed are nearly true shales, so 

 very schistose as to be almost lamellar, and breaking up for pave- 

 ment slabs into fragments of large size, usually of a subpentagonaJ, 

 or rhomboidal form. 



This transition limestone we have minutely examined, as far as it 

 is visible, in a space contained between the two rivers or streams, 



Wliilst mcDlioning tiilobitcs, it may be proper to say, that I Lave just seen s 



specimens from Coburgh, a smaH town between York and Kingston, which were 

 lately found there in quarrying, in a transition limestone, darker, and of a more Bvar- 

 ble hue than that of Cataraqui. These singular fossils are said to exist tliere in 

 great abundance, and from those I saw in the hands of an ignorant quarryman, wlio 

 had injured them very much by careless transport, they will certainly throw new 

 light on that family. Some were extended or flattened, as if crawling, and were 

 furnished with head and eyes^ their appearance strongly resembling that of a toad, oth- 

 ei-s were gibbous; others w^ere actually doubled up, so that the extremities met ; and, 

 in short, every variety of position which a soft flexible insect or animal could assume, 

 was exhibited. The eyes were remarkably protuberant. I would have drawn 

 them, mutilated as they were, but tlie man would not part with them. 



VoLXVIIL~No. 1. 13 



