226 CHESTER WASHBURNE 



A species of Zaphrentis seems to be quite common and, as this type of 

 coral is restricted to the Paleozoic, its presence seems to. indicate, though 

 broadly, something definite with regard to the age of the beds. 



The fourth form, however, is somewhat contradictory. Several paleon- 

 tologists to whom I have shown it know nothing similar to it in the Paleozoic. 

 I am forced to conclude either that it is something entirely new or that its 

 preservation has obscured its real character. It seems to resemble Pseudo- 

 monotis more than any other genus I know, but it is quite unlike, in its pecu- 

 liar surface markings, any members of the genus yet found in this country. 

 Pseudomonotis, it should be remarked, is especially distinctive of the Permian 

 period. 



On the whole, I am forced to conclude that the fauna indicates Carbonif- 

 erous, though it may, in fact, be Devonian. Evidence of a more conclusive 

 character is desirable to really establish the age of these beds.' 



The Aviculopecten mentioned by Dr. Girty was not found in 

 the limestone with the other fossils, but in siliceous shales which 

 dipped away from the limestone for at least ten miles eastward 

 to Izee post-office, where the fossil was found. The shales are 

 well exposed along the north side of the south fork of the John 

 Day for several miles below Izee. How far they continue east 

 of Izee I do not know, since we turned north at Izee and passed 

 over basalt most of the distance to Canyon City. All of the 

 rock that was not basalt was on the Canyon City end of the road 

 and either serpentine or coarse-grained igneous rock. The 

 shales on the south fork did not seem as much metamorphosed as 

 the Pitt shales of northern California and would likely yield plenty 

 of fossils. From the fact that they overlie the Paleozoic lime- 

 stone and dip toward undoubted Jurassic strata twenty-five miles 

 southeast, the shales are possibly Triassic. 



The Triassic. — The Triassic was first reported from eastern 

 Oregon by Waldemar Lindgren.^ From Lindgren's beds near 

 Wallowa Lake, in T. 3 S., R. 44 E., Sees. 9, 10, 14, 15, 35, 36, 

 a great many Halobiae have been sent to Professor Condon by 

 Mr. Charles Cambell, Mr. Oglesby, and others. The collections 



' No " well-defined Carboniferous," nor indeed any Paleozoic but this, has been 

 reported from Crooked river. Lindgren was mistaken in thinking Professor Condon 

 had found such rocks there. {Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. G. S., Part II, p. 579.) 



'Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U.S. Geol. Surv., Part'^^II, pp. 579-81, 1902 ; also Sci- 

 ence, Vol. XIII, pp. 270, 271, 1901. 



