APPENDIX. 383 



striking proof of its agency is, perhaps, found in the sea-shells, 

 polypi, and Crustacea, which are preserved, in their outlines, in 

 solid strata. Some of these are most vivid in their shapes and 

 ray-like markings, particularly the univalve shells. 



A subsequent change, in the surface of the country, is indicated 

 by the marks of attrition and watery action upon the faces of these 

 rocks, in situations greatly elevated above the present water-levels. 

 This action must, consequently, be referred^ to a period when ex- 

 tensive submersions, in the nature of lakes or semi-seas, existed ; 

 for there is no power in present lakes and streams, however 

 swelled and reinforced by rains or melting snows, to reach even 

 a moiety of the elevation of these ancient water-marks. It is to 

 the era of these last submersions that we are encouraged, by evi- 

 dences, to look, as the disturbing cause which has buried trees, 

 leaves, and bones in alluvial soils. 



Action of Water. — In examining some portions of the flat 

 lands of Ontario County, such as the township of Phelps, there 

 are strata of a fine sedimentary soil, such as might be expected 

 to result from the settlings of water not greatly agitated. The 

 bottoms of mill-ponds afford an analogous species of soil. In 

 these level districts, there are also not unfrequently observed 

 fields of bare flat rock, of the limestone species, which is checkered 

 in its surface, conveying the idea of their having formed a flooring 

 to some former lake. An appearance of this kind may be seen 

 a few hundred yards from the meeting-house in Phelps. The 

 rock, in this instance, is a carbonate of lime, and affords organic 

 remains. 



The Oak Openings, in Erie County, are a kind of natural mea- 

 dows or prairies. Many suppose them to have been ancient 

 clearings; but of this the Indians have no tradition, and the evi- 

 dences of such a settlement are by no means satisfactory. In 

 many places, on these extensive openings, there are naked and bar- 

 ren layers of calcareous rock, whose surface exhibits appearances 

 analogous to those in Ontario. The limestone is, however, of a 

 darker color, and contains numerous imbedded nodules of horn- 

 stone, and it emits a fetid odor on breaking. 



In crossino; the elevated calcareous hiohlands, between Danville 

 and Arkport, in Steuben County, we perceive in the bluff rocks 

 which bound the valley of the Conestoga River, at an elevation of 



