DISCOVERY OF THE NORMANSKILL GRAPTOLITE 

 FAUNA IN THE ATHENS SHALE OF SOUTH- 

 WESTERN VIRGINIA 



S. L. POWELL 

 Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia 



During the last year, as opportunity was afforded, the writer 

 has had under investigation a Cambro-Ordovician section in south- 

 western Virginia, not only as a contribution to our knowledge of 

 the geology of this section of Virginia, but more especially for the 

 purpose of correlation, if possible, with the standard section north. 

 In connection with this work the discovery was made that the 

 Athens shale abounds in graptolites. The determination of some 

 thirty or more species and varieties shows that the majority, if 

 not all, are the same as those which characterize the Normanskill 

 shale of New York. 



As the paper on the entire Cambro-Ordovician section will not 

 appear for some months, this occurrence is thought of sufficient 

 moment to warrant the publication of this note in advance. 



A number of papers have appeared in recent years discussing 

 the Normanskill graptolite fauna and the correlation of the shales 

 containing it. The literature on the subject shows that the forma- 

 tion has, from time to time, been referred to every possible position 

 from the Hudson River formation to the Chazy. In 1901, how- 

 ever. Dr. Ruedemann showed^ that the slate which contains this 

 fauna in the Hudson River region underlies the Utica slate, and 

 correlated it with the lower or middle Trenton. This correlation, 

 based almost entirely on paleontologic evidence, is in general 

 accordance with the views held by R. R. Gurley, H. M. Ami, and 

 Charles Lapworth. Later, in 1903, Weller found the fauna in 

 New Jersey, and, from his study of the beds containing it, con- 

 cluded that they are about equivalent to the middle portion of the 



' Bull. 42, N.Y. State Mus. 



272 



