544 CHARLES S. PROSSER 



erally been termed the "Medina shales" — the lowest formation 

 of the Upper Silurian in western New York — apparently belong 

 in the upper part of the Lower Silurian. Dr. Foreste has 

 studied these beds quite carefully and reports in them several 

 species of fossils, which are of Lower Silurian age. He states : 

 It should be remembered that the identification of the Medina in Ohio 

 has not only been solely lithological, but has been practically made upon the 

 sole basis of color. Had the clays near the top of the Lower Silurian not 

 had a single touch of red, or purple color, it is probable that the name 

 Medina would never have been applied to them.' 



While later in the same article it is stated "the red, purple, and 

 otherwise colored clays below the Belfast bed and its equivalent 

 are, however. Lower Silurian, as is shown by the presence in 

 them of Lower Silurian fossils."^ The fauna, as reported by Dr. 

 Foerste, is not very extensive, and includes two brachiopods, 

 Orthis {^Hebertella) occide?italis, which is not known above the 

 Richmond formation, and "Lower Silurian forms of Orthis 

 [^Platystrophid) biforata'''^ (although it must be remembered that 

 this species occurs in the Clinton limestone), "bryozoans of 

 Lower Silurian age," "annelid teeth such as are found in the 

 Lower Silurian," corals as Tetradium, and stromatoporoid 

 sponges. "^ 



These rocks were named the "Madison beds" by Dr. 

 Foerste in 1897,^ on account of the typical exposures at 

 Madison, Ind.; but the name was preoccupied as a geological 

 term, for in 1875 Professor Irving named and described the 

 Madison sandstone of Wisconsin. If this formation be a 

 synonvm for the "Jordan sandstone," which was named and 

 described by Professor N. H. Winchell in 1874, then the name 

 "Madison" is still preoccupied, for it was applied by Dr. Peale 

 in 1893 to a Carboniferous formation of Montana. Dr. Foerste 

 in some of his reports has used the name "Cumberland sand- 

 stone," which was applied by Shaler in 1877 to the upper part 



' Ind. Dept. Geol. and Nat. Res., Twenty -fourth Ann. Kept. (1900), pp. 67, 68. 

 = Ibid.,^. 68. -ijoiir. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XVIII (1896), p. 165. 



••Ind. Dept. Geol. and Nat. Res., Twenty-fourth Ann. Rept. (1900), pp. 65, 66. 

 ^ Ibid., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. (1896), pp. 218, 220. 



