Oldhamia. 231 



forbids us, he says, from comparing this fossil with the 

 tracks of worms. 



From the above cited authorities it is clear that there 

 is a wide difference of opinion as to the affinities of Old- 

 hamia, for while the majority of the English paleontolo- 

 gists incline to place it with the Hydrozoa, the German 

 and French writers suppose the genus to belong to the 

 Algee. 



The following brief description is all that can be said 

 about the St. John Group forms : 



Oldhamia sp. 



A detached fascicle, having about eleven visible spread- 

 ing appendages, of which the outer are horizontal and the 

 others set at a more and more acute angle until the middle 

 ones are vertical. Several of the appendages are branched, 

 with branches standing at a wide angle ; the appendages 

 were thick and rigid, sub-lanceolate in form and obtusely 

 pointed ; some appendages are wider than others ; they 

 spring from a common base, which is somewhat nodose. 



The fossil is in the condition of a mould in fine argilla- 

 ceous sandstone ; as the rock shows no clear marks of 

 stratification, it is not known whether the fossil was in a 

 vertical or horizontal position. 



It would seem from the quotations in the earlier part 

 of this article that while the writers who have described 

 species of Oldhamia agree in ascribing to it a frond with 

 rigid leaves or appendages, there is a great diversity of 

 opinion as to the substance of which the frond or stem 

 and- branches was composed. In the case of the Acadian 

 species, however, there is no trace of the original substance, 

 though the mould is well filled out ; it seems most prob- 

 able, therefore, that the frond was calcareous. Shells of 

 Obolus (Botsfordia) in the same layers of sandstone pre- 

 serve in most cases the greater part of their calcareo- 

 corneous shells, and their dark color. 



