CLINTON COUNTY. 311 



2. Dark-colored mass, filled, in the upper part especially, with broken encrinitrs and corallines; be- 



sides which, there are numerous individuals belonging to the genus Strophomcna. 



3. Strata of tolerably pure limestone, filled with bivalves, most of which consist of the Orthis. Ten 



feet thick. 



4. Strata of corallines and broken encrinites, with a reddish hue. Four feet thick. 



5. A mass quite dark-colored and finely granular, partaking lithologically of the calciferous sandrock. 



It is filled with uniralvcs, among which is the Euomphalus, Bellerophon and a new undescribed 

 fossil, the Scalites angulatus. Twenty ieet thick. 



6. Strata composed almost wholly of the Orthis, and probably the species referred to in the third para- 



graph. Twelve feet thick. 



7. Repetition of the broken encrinites and corallines, the fragments of which are red. The thickness 



of this mass could not be determined, as it passed beneath the soil. 



In drawing up the brief view of the calciferous sandrock in Clinton, I have had in my mind 

 a locality about three-fourths of a mile southwest of Chazy village. All these masses are 

 revealed by an uplift, in which the exposure is remarkably good. The entire thickness of 

 this rock in Chazy, or even in Clinton county, cannot be determined by any exposure of it 

 which has yet fallen under my notice. At the locality cited above, the lower part is concealed, 

 while the upper is remarkably developed. Throughout the whole, as it is liere exposed, it 

 preserves certain mineralogical characters which belong to the rock ; a mixture of yellowish 

 or brownish earthy matter, to which it owes its dull earthy lustre. 



The most interesting phenomena connected with these masses, are the great abundance of 

 fossils in rocks so ancient ; and while this is a fact, another equally if not more interesting, 

 is the limited number of species, and the immense number of individuals — so much so, that 

 entire strata are made up of them. This, however, coincides with what has been brought to 

 light in other places, both in Europe and America : it being established that species are less 

 numerous in the lower than in the upper rocks, but a compensation is made by an increase of 

 the individuals of the species then living. 



When my attention was first directed to the fossiliferous rocks of Clinton county, I was 

 disposed to adopt the opinion that the great development was strictly confined to Chazy and 

 its neighborhood ; and although I do not find, in my examination, any other masses so full, 

 still many localities furnish a part of the same members which belong to the Clinton rocks ; 

 and it is a curious fact, that wdiile one of the members of this series is largely developed as 

 the encrinal beds, we find a sprinkling of the same fossils, the stomachical plates of an encri- 

 nite, in the Mohawk valley, the whole mass being only one or two inches thick. But in 

 relation to extension, it will probably be found that the lower rocks are by no means limited. 

 When the characteristic fossils are more generally known, and the attention of geologists is 

 turned to the lower rocks, they will be found to be widely extended. 



The fossils of these lower masses are mostly new species ; and among them there are 

 probably two or three new genera, which number will perhaps be increased by farther exa- 

 mination. But whether new or old, it is satisfactory to discover the same general forms, the 



