ILLUSTRATIONS. 55 



schlstosum of Linnsus, and the schistus calcarious of Forster. Kalm also saw 

 ia this place many petrified cornua ammonia ; among them were some petrified 

 snails. Some of these cornua were remarkably large j for they measured above 

 two feet in diameter. Different kinds of coral could be plainly seeji and sepa- 

 rated from the stone in which they lay : some were white and lithophytes ; 

 others were starry corals or madrepores. 



In one place, near the shore of Lake Champlain, he saw a number of petrified 

 cornua ammonis, in gray limestone. Some of this stone contained a number of 

 petrifactions, with and without shells ; and in one place he found prodigious 

 large cornua ammonis about twenty inches in breadth. In some instances the 

 water had worn off the stone, but could not have the same effect on the petri- 

 factions which lay elevated abore, and in a manner glued on the stones. Kalnfi 

 Travels, vol. 3. 



The principal seat of these fossils and petrifactions are calcarious stones ; this 

 arises from the preserving power of the substance; but I have seen very curious 

 one* in sandstone on lot No. 69. of the Cayuga reservation, in the county of 

 Cayuga. This place is about three and a half miles from the Cayuga Lake. A 

 ridge of rocks and stones extends a mile in a parallel direction with the lake. 

 The higher stratum is composed of limestone, and the next adjoining one of 

 sandstone; filled with marine substances. There is but one stratum of sand 

 stone, of the thickness of two or three feet, and below and beneath, as well as 

 above it, there is limestone. The sandstone contains several strange marine 

 shell?, which, I should, therefore, pronounce to be oceanic. There are littoral 

 ones also, such as scallops and periwinkles. One strange substance is larger 

 than a scallop, and one is like the great crab called a horseshoe in miniature. 

 From the propinquity of the limestone I should suppose that the sand anJ 

 marine substances were connected together by a solution of the calcarious 

 matter. Some of the stones were probably ejected by torrents from the regular 

 layers. The sandstones are found singly all over the adjacent fields, are easily 

 broken, and when pounded or burnt are converted into fine marine sand. They 

 are not only indented with the figures of shells, but contain the shells themselves 

 in a petrified form. 



These petrifactions are certainly worthy of a more minute examination. Dr. 

 Smith considered a very extensive collection of fish in sandstone, in the posses- 

 sion of an apothecary of Verona, a very great curiosity. I have no doubt but 

 that a very interesting one of shells might be made from these immense strata 

 of sandstone. Fifo J. E. Smith's Sketch ef a Tsur on ike, Continent, vol. 3. 



