fit) 298 
bed-of sandstone. Below: ote bed containing the ferns, there are three dis- 
tinct. beds of coal, each separated by about 5 ; feet of clay. Before examin- 
ing the ee Ss ata just ee I compared these fossil ferns with 
vat rom the coal measures of Pennsylvania and Ohies and it 
rn that this formation could not be of the same a here 
a several specimens which I can ane refer to the Glossopteris Phillipsii, 
(see description,) an oolitic fossil; and this alone, with the general een 
ter of the other species, and the absence of the large stems so com in 
the coal period, had led me to refer them to the oolitic period.. 1 conce aes 
however, that we have scarcely sufficient evidence to justify this reference; 
and. though among the fossil shells there are none decidedly typical of. the 
oolite, yet neuners' are they so of any other formation; and the lithological 
character of the mass is not reliable evidence. Still, viewed in whatever 
light we please, these fossil ferns must, I conceive, be regarded as mostly 
of new species, and in this respect form a het important addition to the 
flora of the more modern geological periods 
In passing from this locality westward to the Bear river,Captain Frémont _ 
crossed a high mountain chain, which is the dividing ridge between the 
waters of Muddy river poset eastward, and those of Muddy creek flow- 
ing into Bear river on the west. The gap where the ridge was crossed is 
stated to be 8,200 feet a the level of the sea. In this ridge, 115 miles 
to the southward of the locality of the fossils last mentioned, were collected 
the specimens next to be named. These were obtained near the summit 
of the ndge, and probably higher than the point where Captain Frémont’s 
party cross 
The collection from this locality (longitude 1119, latitude — rein 
everal specimens of an argillaceous, highly bituminous, and somewhat 
slaty limestone, loaded with fossils. It is very brittle, and easily se 
nto small fragments by a blow of the hammer. _ Its natural color isa tight | 
me but it bleaches on exposure to the atmosphere. In structure, it is not - 
unlike some of the limestones of the lias or oolite formations. The fossils 
are chiefly one species of Cerithium and one of Mya; and besides these, 
another species of Cerithium and a Nucula can be identified. So faras I 
am able to ascertain, these fossils are undescribed, and will therefore be 
regarded as new species, 
t may be considered premature to decide upon the geological position of 
this mass. It may belong to the same period, though far “a in the 
series than those in the same longitude, which have just been 
In the locality of the fossil plants, the strata dip W. by N.; but, from the 
structure of the country, it is evident that there is 4 change i in the 
of the dip before reaching the high ridge from which the specimens under 
_ consideration oo — examination, I have no doubt, will set 
hn ton at r 
scribes the occurrence of an immense stratum of” ‘fa ssil salt ; and the same 
Ange is represented as bounding the Great Salt lake. There would there- 
fore seem no doubt that the salt in qu potion Serre ted with the strata of 
‘this period, and probably coeval with the 
= tinay remark, in the same connexion, ae th surfaces of iigiictinstis 
