278 REVIEWS 



points of interest and should receive the consideration of the advocates 

 of a "circumpolar whirl." Of course, conclusions are not to be drawn 

 from these limited data (and data taken in an expedition of this kind 

 are necessarily limited), but they are in consonance with many other 

 data that invite a reconsideration of prevalent theories of atmospheric 

 circulation. 



When the conditions under which these observations were made 

 are considered, their number and their nature must be regarded as a 

 high tribute to the scientific devotion of the observer. 



T. C. C. 



The Oriskany Fauna of Be craft Mountain, Columbia County, N. Y. 

 By J. M. Clark, Ph.D., Mem. N. Y. St. Mus., No. 3, Vol. III. 



Becraft Mountain is an outlier composed chiefly of strata of early 

 Devonian age, resting conformably upon the upturned slates of the 

 Hudson River formation. A preliminary paper on the fauna of the 

 Oriskany formation at this locality was published in 1899 by Professor 

 C. E. Beecher, being accompanied by a list of the species present iden- 

 tified by the author of the present report. It was shown at that time 

 that the fauna was a peculiar one, consisting of an intermingling of 

 Helderbergian and Oriskany forms. The present report is a detailed 

 description of the fauna accompanied by good illustrations of all the 

 species. 



This discussion of the Becraft Mountain Oriskany fauna by Dr. 

 Clark, brings clearly into view a very different conception of the 

 faunas of Oriskany age in eastern North America from that which has 

 become known through Volume III of the New York Paleontology. 

 At Becraft's Mountain, and in strata extending southward through 

 New York and into New Jersey, a calcarious facies of Oriskany sedi- 

 mentation occurs, which contains a very different assembly of organ- 

 isms from that of the original Oriskany sandstone, and which is con- 

 sidered by Dr. Clark as being the normal fauna of the period. In 

 this connection Dr. Clark writes: "In the earlier presentation of this 

 fauna it was regarded as of Lower Oriskany horizon, on account of the 

 presence of many Helderbergian species, but we believe it will be more 

 correctly construed as the representation of the proper and normal 

 Oriskany fauna, the true fauna of this time unit inclosed in the sedi- 

 ments of its proper habitat." 



The character of the Oriskany sandstone deposits in New York 



