358 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



sition of the overlying calcareous beds. At the same 

 point an old shore line shows finely, with its Pholas bor- 

 ings, its beach strewn with rolled fragments from the cliff 

 of andesite, and the overlying deposit consisting almost 

 entirely of fragments of barnacles. 



The rock under the andesite appears somewhat meta- 

 morphosed. From fossils collected from above and below 

 the andesite its age is evidently in the Merced period as 

 that has been defined in this paper. The fossils do not 

 show any marked change in the fauna and seem to in- 

 dicate that the outflow took place during the Merced and 

 not at the end. 



Other late eruptives require further study before being 

 reported upon. 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



Distribution. 



The Calif ornian Province.— In the present faunas the 

 California province, extending from the Straits of Fuca 

 to Cape San Lucas at the southern end of Lower Cali- 

 fornia, is a well marked province. The provinces north 

 and south overlap to some extent, but taken as a whole 

 the fauna is quite distinct. At the present time this fauna 

 is distinguished by the abundance of Chitonida^, Patel- 

 lidae, Haliotidee, Trochid^ and others. 



Aside from the introduced species, the species which are 

 found in both this province and in some Atlantic province 

 are found on the Atlantic side only in northern waters. 

 About fifty species have been noted as occurring in the Cal- 

 ifornia province, which have been found in the North At- 

 lantic or northern Europe. Complete lists of the Cali- 

 fornia fauna would probably largely increase that number. 

 A very few of these, as the Pecten islandiciis Miiller, so 

 common in the Merced period near Stanford University, 

 and in the Pliocene elsewhere, are at present found in 



