560 H. W. FAIRBANKS 
The genus Azcella is well represented through the lower and 
middle portion of the shales, but the upper portion appears to 
be barren of life. 
The nonconformity with the underlying Golden Gate series 
is most marked, not only by the discordance in dip but through 
much less distortion of the upper beds and the entire absence of 
the intrusives so characteristic of the lower series. Although 
so much evidence exists of a break between these two groups of 
rocks, its real magnitude does not yet seem to be appreciated 
by geologists as it ought. The more the question is studied the 
more its importance must appeal to geologists. 
Chico formation.— The upper portion of the Shasta group 
known as the Horsetown beds was not recognized within the 
area under discussion and it seems probable from the strati- 
graphic relations existing between the Knoxville beds and the 
Chico formation thatiit isvabsent. ) Phe Chico occurs initwe 
widely separated localities. The most important one forms a 
belt one to two miles wide and many miles long on the northern 
slope of the Santa Lucia range. The other is a strip about the. 
same width extending along the coast from a point six miles 
west of Cayucos, northwestward for about eighteen miles. In 
both areas the rock consists almost wholly of sandstone. Fos- 
sils are not abundant but they were found in sufficient numbers 
in the Santa Lucia Mountains to demonstrate the age of the 
formation. In the latter locality the sandstone terminates 
downward in a conglomerate which is in places 100 feet thick, 
resting either upon the Knoxville shales or the Golden Gate 
series. The sandstones on the coast rest upon the Golden Gate 
series exclusively. The relation to the Knoxville shales was 
carefully examined at many points along the northern slope of 
the Santa Lucia Mountains and a conclusion reached which is in 
accord with one already published," namely, that the lower and 
upper Cretaceous are, in this region at least, separated by a non- 
conformity. This is shown by the marked discordance in the 
dip between the two and the extension of the upper across the 
‘Jour. GEOL., Vol. III, p. 426. 
