LEE COUNTY. 133 



Oiceni, or old Cowinopora sulcata, of the earlier geologists. In the com- 

 mon speech of the people it is known by various names, such as " lead 

 fossil," " honey-comb," and " sunflower coral." A good specimen, with 

 its central depression and folding-over edges, resembles the latter flower 

 very much. In addition to this, of which good specimens have been 

 found around Dixon, other casts of characteristic fossils are numerous, 

 such as Linyula quadrata ; Mun-hisonia beUacincta ; M. graclUs ; frag- 

 ments of Orthoeeras ; Ambonychia intermedia; Receptaculites globular is, 

 rare ; Chaietes petro-politanus, very rare in this rock; Calymene Blumen 

 bachii, rare: Orthoeeras anclliim, a species of Cypricardites, rather 

 abundant: Ifurchisonia bicincta ; Ilhenus taurus. rare; Raphistoma len- 

 ticiilaris, common; Belleroplwn platystoma, common; Ophileta Oiceni, 

 common; Illtvn us crassicauda, fragments and shields common ; Trocho- 

 nema umbilicata. common; specimens of Orthis, Ormocenu, and Machtrea, 

 rather common; a large species of Columnaria, rather rare; a species of 

 Petraiaf very abundant; and some other less common fossils, whose 

 names I do not now recall. 



In the Blue or Trenton, of the old Western geologists, fossils are so 

 abundant that it would be tedious to enumerate them. In some of the 

 thin, shaly, blue slabs found above Dixon, fragments of corals and 

 steins of Encrinites, Trilobites, Lep"taena, Strophomena, Orthis, and 

 other shells and fragments are imbedded and stuck over them as close 

 as they can be packed. A species of Orthoceras. some times attaining 

 from six to eight inches in diameter, and from eight to ten feet long, is 

 often found. Sections and fragments of this huge animal are of very 

 frequent occurrence. A large chambered shell, probably the Lituites 

 undatus, of Hall, is very characteristic. Ormoceras tenuijilum ; Gouio- 

 ceras anceps ; Orthis testudinaria ; 0. occidentalis ; Strophomena alter- 

 nata ; S. Jilitexta ; Leptwna sericca ; a new fossil named the Yanuxemia 

 Dixonemis. by Meek and Wortheu ; and many others, too numerous to 

 mention, are found in the outcrops along Eock river, in Lee county. 

 The Trenton seas must have swarmed with these lower orders of life. 



In the lower earthy and sandy layers of the Buff limestone I have 

 not noticed many fossils. The Buff limestone, of Eockton, in Wiuue- 

 bago county, and of TVinslow, in Stephenson county, is full of fossil re- 

 mains of species and genera almost identical with those found in the 

 Trenton quarries at Dixon. The thick layers of the outcrop east of 

 Dixon are separated by thin layers, an inch or two in thickness, 

 abounding with fossils and impressions. The species here are not nu- 

 merous, but the individuals are clustered too-other in multitudes. They 

 are mostly casts of shells in a poor state of preservation. The Lituites 

 nndatns and the large Orthoceras, spoken of as found in the Trenton, 

 are also characteristic of the Buff limestone. 



