USE OF BEDFORD AS A FORMA TIONAL NAME 233 



northeastern Ohio in 1870, the writer proposes the name Salem 

 limestone for the rocks called Bedford limestone by Hopkins and 

 Siebenthal. 1 The so-called bastard limestone of the quarrymen 

 is to be considered as the base of the formation next above 

 (Mitchell); and the base of the Salem formation is to be taken 

 at the top of the Bryozoal limestone that throughout its entire 

 extent constitutes the upper zone of the Harrodsburg limestone 

 as defined by Hopkins and Siebenthal. 2 



In suggesting a different name for the rocks under consid- 

 eration the writer is aware of the claims of Spergen hill. The 

 latter place is, however, chiefly known as having afforded 

 the extensive series of fossils described by Hall 3 and later 

 redescribed and figured by Whitfield, 4 and is not so good a place 

 for studying the stratigraphic relationships of the formation as 

 a number of other localities. Moreover, the Spergen hill fauna 

 is confined to parts of the formation, and in many localities 

 would be of scarcely any service in identifying it. The oolitic 

 character of the rock, on the other hand, while more pronounced 

 at some places than at others, everywhere serves as a means of 

 identification and is the character that is especially well devel- 

 oped at Salem. Finally, as indicated above, the name Salem has 

 been associated with the oolitic limestones in the Indiana reports 



since 1885. 



Edgar R. Cumings. 

 Department of Geology, 

 Indiana University. 



'Indiana, Dept. of Geol. and Nat. Resources, Twenty-first Ann. Rept., 1896, p. 

 298. 



2 Ibid. 



3 Trans. Alb. Inst., Vol. IV; Indiana, Dept. Geol. and Nat. Hist., Twelfth Ann. 

 Rept. 



* Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. I, No. 3. 



