394 GEOLOGY OF OLD HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MASS. 



Mr. George P. Merrill ' gives the follo\A'ing data: Price per cubic foot, 

 $1 to S2; cost of pointing, 10 to 15 cents; ax-hammering, 30 cents. An 

 extra, price is charged for blocks of more than 25 cubic feet. Strength of 

 the sandstone per square inch, 8,945, 8,812. 



The stone sells now (1893) for 50 to 70 cents per cubic foot deliv- 

 ered at the station, while the Berea stone sells for Si per foot delivered in 

 Springfield. 



PALEOKTOliOGY. 



In the following section I have given, by means of the synonymy, the 

 history of opinion concerning each species known to me, and each locality 

 where the species has been found. 



I have not, however, given special attention to the foot-tracks, and 

 present only the latest list of species prepared by Professor Hitchcock. 



PLANTS. 



Halymenites SHEPA.RDI E. Hitchcock. 



1833. Fucoides sp. E. Hitclicock. Geol. Mass., p. 233, pL 13, figs. 38, 39. 



1835. Same. 



1841. Fucoides shepardi E. Hitchcock. GeoL Mass., Final Kept., p. 455, fig. 95. 



These forms occur so abundantly throughout the central areas of 

 fine-grained sandstones and shales that I have often called these the fucoidal 

 sandstones. The best locality, in addition to those mentioned below, is at 

 the water shops in Springfield. I append Hitchcock's description, premising 

 that branching is not so rare as it would indicate. Bauds of the sandstone 

 several feet thick are at times filled evenly full of these rods, and inter- 

 vening bands are empty, as at the mouth of Fall River: 



This relic varies iu size from one-tenth of an inch to an inch in diameter. More 

 commonly it runs through the rock in a direction corresponding to that of the lamin.ne, 

 in which case it is considerably flattened. Sometimes it passes obliquely through 

 the layers, and very commonly crosses them at right angles, iu which last case it 

 has a cylindrical form. It is rare to see a specimen of any considerable length that 

 is not more or less curved, and I have never met with one that was branched 

 at all. I have noticed specimens a foot or more in length, and they may be much 

 longer than this, since I have not met with any large mass of rock containing them. 

 The sandstone in which they are found is rather fine and quite soft and easily 

 disintegrates. They occur near Hoyt's quarries, 1 mile west of the village of Deer- 



'Cat. Nat. Mus., W.ishington, pp. 54, 499. 



