AuGiST 21, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



245 



on the other, they have been identified as 

 metamorphosed Paleozoic sediments. At the 

 northern end of this belt it has been possible, 

 by means of the fossils, by tracing them into 

 unaltered fossiliferous beds, and by their 

 stratigraphic relations, to assign parts of these 

 slates to Paleozoic formations. Thus the 

 ' Archaean ' of southeastern New York has been 

 proved to be largely of Cambrian and Ordo- 

 vician age, and the highly crystalline mica 

 schists of Xevr York island are now assigned 

 to the Hudson river horizon. Further south- 

 ward in Pennsylvania and Maryland a similar 

 change in the reference seems to be taking 

 place, as is evidenced by the recent work of 

 Miss Bascom. 



The semi-metamorphic slates and conglom- 

 erates constituting the Ocoee of Dr. Safford 

 have in like manner been variously classified. 

 Dr. Safford considered them as of Silurian 

 (Cambrian) age, but as occupying a position 

 below the oldest of his fossiliferous Silurian 

 divisions, the Chilhowee. Mr. Arthur Keith 

 at one time, from their superposition and 

 structure, reached the conclusion that these 

 rocks were in part at least of Carboniferous 

 age, but detailed mapping and study of the 

 sedimentary formations of the North-Caro- 

 lina-Tennessee mountains and the tracing of 

 the different layers from place to place, have 

 enabled him to prove to the satisfaction of the 

 geologists conversant with that region that 

 the Ocoee strata along or near the state 

 boundary line are of Cambrian age, and cor- 

 respond in the main to the lower part of the 

 section shown in Chilhowee Mountain. In 

 this he confirms Dr. Safford. 



Mr. E. C. Eckel, in papers * dealing with 

 the gold deposits of the Dahlonega district 

 of Georgia, has suggested incidentally that 

 both the Ocoee rocks proper and the more 

 highly metamorphosed rocks east of them are 

 probably of Paleozoic age, and may possibly 

 be in part of late Paleozoic age; while the 

 Dahlonega gold deposits were certainly formed 

 not earlier than the Ordovician and possibly 

 as late as the Carboniferous. These conclu- 



• Engineering and Mining Journal, February 7, 

 1003; Bull. 213 U. S. Geol. Survey. 



sions were based upon the structural relations 

 of the deposits, and were supported by anal- 

 ogy with similar rocks and deposits in Ten- 

 nessee, Virginia and New York. 



From these notes it will appear that con- 

 clusions as to the age of the Ocoee have here- 

 tofore been based upon their stratigraphy and 

 structure, i. e., upon circumstantial evidence, 

 and it will, no doubt, be of interest to readers 

 of Science to know that we have now definite 

 poleontological evidence of the age of a part, 

 at least, of these rocks. 



In November, 1902, I received from Mr. 

 Joshua Franklin, of Mosely, Clay County, 

 Ala., some fossils obtained by him from the 

 slates near his house. These were submitted 

 to Mr. David White, of the National Museum, 

 for identification, but it was not until May of 

 the present year that I had the opportunity 

 of visiting the locality and noting the mods 

 of occurrence of the fossils. The locality is 

 at the eastern base of the main range of the 

 Talladega Mountains and at a distance of 

 eight miles or more from the contact of the 

 ' Ocoee ' with the unaltered Cambrian of the 

 valley. The slates in which the fossils are 

 found are the ordinary semi-crystalline (seri- 

 cite) slates of the Ocoee type. At the point 

 in question these slates are in places highly 

 charged with graphitic matter, which is par- 

 ticularly in evidence in freshly exposed rocks 

 in a railroad cut. Where they have been long 

 exposed at the surface they have lost in great 

 measure this graphitic matter and are of the 

 usual bluish and yellowish colors and silky 

 luster. The fossils are mostly found in con- 

 cretions, usually lens-shaped, but occasionally 

 longer in one dimension; the concretions are 

 very perceptibly lighter in specific gravity 

 than the rock itself; when broken open they 

 are sometimes found to hold badly preserved 

 organic forms; sometimes they are hollow, the 

 organic matter having apparently been re- 

 moved by decay, leaving only a loose powdery 

 silicious residue filling only a part of the 

 cavity. Other fossils, and among them the 

 most perfect one (a Lepidostrohus), are found 

 loose, and, while they have not yet been spe- 

 cifically identified, appear to be pieces of steins 



