NO. 1192. TRENTON FAVNA OF BAFFIN LAND— SCHVCHEBT. 147 



northwestward, I found fragments of shaly marl and of gray limestone with fossils, 

 among which Beceptaculites Owtni was easily distinguished. Shells and bryozoa, 

 belonging to moderately deep-water species, were found on the same pans. The 

 limestone fragments, just mentioned, would point to the occurrence of Silurian rocks 

 on or near the great bays in the western part of the north shore of the straits, where 

 the land is said to be low [see also the description of Akpatok Island]. Dr. Franz 

 Boas of Berlin [now of New York] lias recorded the existence of these rocks in the 

 interior of Baffin Land, about 2 degrees of latitude north of this region. He says:' 

 "Through the occurrence of the Silurian rocks in the Nettilling (Lake) (=Lake 

 Kennedy), the discovery of the same formation at the upper end of Frobisher Bay 

 increases in value. We must now suppose that the Silurian limestones, which appear 

 at Prince Ruperts Inlet, extend from there to Frobisher Bay, and overlie the granites 

 and gneisses of Baffins Bay and Davis Strait. We will not be far astray if w^e con- 

 nect this extensive Silurian district with the limestones which occur to the south of 

 Igluling; and which form the flat eastern half of Melville Peninsula. Southward 

 from Nettilling, these rocks rise in low hill ranges." 



Farther to the north, great areas of Upper Silurian rocks occur, 

 yielding characteristic fossils of this age. In association with this 

 fauna also occur species of Lower Silurian age. Two of these are 

 Beceptaculites arcticus Etheridge, and R. occidentalis Salter. The latter 

 may be the same as B. oweni of this paper, a species closely related to 

 B. occidentalis. One or both of these species are found associated with 

 a typical Upper Silurian fauna at Cape Louis Napoleon (latitude 79° 

 38' north), and Cape Frazer (latitude 79° 45' nbrth). Maclurea arctica 

 Haughton, M. logani Salter, and M. magna Lesueur, are also identified 

 as occurring in this region in Upper Silurian faunas. Such localities 

 are Fury Point (latitude 72° 50' north, longitude 92° west), Depot Bay 

 (latitude 72° north, longitude 94° west), Cape Hilgard (latitude 79^ 

 41' north), and Bessels Bay (latitude 81° 6'). Maclurea arctica with 

 Actinoceras crebriseptum Hall and Beceptaculites neptuniT> efrsbuce (prob- 

 ably = B. oiceni) are found with Upper Silurian fossils on the west 

 coast of King Williams Island. Maclurea, or Maclurina, is a genus 

 restricted to the Lower Silurian, and the same is true of Actinoceras 

 crehriseptum. On the other hand, Etheridge has described as Helico- 

 toma naresii, a similar shell from the Upper Silurian of Offley Island 

 (latitude 81° 16' north) and with this the author has identified a speci- 

 men ill the U. S. National Museum collected by Dr. E. Bessels at Polaris 

 Bay (latitude 81° 38' north). The preservation of these shells, however, 

 is such that any identification will have little value. 



The foregoing facts can be interpreted in various ways: 



First, Arctic collections of fossils are usually made by explorers who 

 pick up loose fossils, some of which may have been carried by the ice 

 considerable distances. In this way, specimens from several horizons 

 become mixed. The author, however, does not believe that this is gen- 

 erally the case here, since the apparaut mixtures occur in seven local- 

 ities distributed between latitudes 72° to 81° 6' north. 



Secondly, the identifications are not uniform, and this is particularly 

 true of the specimens ot Maclurea. For the present, therefore, it will 



^ Petermann's Mittheilungen, November, 1885. 



