718 GEOLOGY OF OLD HAMPSHIEE COUNTY, MASS. 



and coal grains about 0.004 ™™ across. On examining a new slide carefully 

 with high powers the larger grains, which disappear with acid, are found to 

 have cores of quartz and a warty coating of calcite. 



FOSSILS OF THE CHAMPLAIN CLAYS. 

 REMAINS OF PLANTS. 



So far as I can learn, no fossils have been described from the clays of 

 the basin, nor, indeed, from those of the valley of the Connecticut above 

 and below. As early as 1852 Dr. James Eights wrote as follows of the 

 Hudson River clays: 



lu one of tbose thiu seams of fine sand that separate the strata of clay, about 

 15 feet below the surface of the soil [in a plain '2G0 feet above sea level], are to be found 

 the remains of a vegetable much I'esembling iu appearance the leaves and stems of the 

 MitcheUa repens. . . . These leaves have undergone but a slight change in their 

 nature, still retaining all the flexibility of the more recent plant.' 



These were very probably leaves of Vaccmium oxycoccus, which are the 

 most abundant in the clays of the Connecticut. 



In the summer of 1878, while on an excursion with the senior class of 

 Amlierst College, I detected a few very small leaves in the river bank below 

 Hadley, at the north end of the clay exposure, opposite the house nearest 

 the bridge over Fort River; and on a similar excursion in 1879 I found that 

 the floods of the preceding spring had cut deeply into the clays at that place 

 and piled great masses near the south end of the exposure above low-water 

 mark. From these blocks I obtained a better supply, though they Avere far 

 from abundant. They were confined within narrow limits, both vertically 

 and horizontally, and were generally scattered singly in the laminae. In two 

 cases layers were separated containing twenty or more leaves of several 

 species and preserving delicately the impression of both the upper and 

 under surface. They were uniformly very small — 10 to 20""™ in length — 

 generally thick and coriaceous. From their occurring scattered singly iu 

 the beds and associated with ripe seed vessels, I assume them to have been 

 blown off the land by the autumn winds; and their position at or just above 

 the base of the upper fine portion of the layer confirms the supposition 

 already expressed — that this fine portion was deposited in the winter. 



During the same year my colleague, Mr. J. M. Clarke, obtained leaves 



' Observations ou the geological features of the post-Tertiary formatiou of the city of Albany 

 and its vicinity : Trans. Albany Inst., Vol. II, p. 346. 



