ORTHOCEKAS IN THE ONEONTA BEDS OF CHENANGO VALLEY 169 



of septation and showed the position and form of the saphuncle. 

 On examining this stratum in place I have found that these shells 

 are seldom deflected from the vertical; and they are exposed on 

 any broken face of the rock in such a way that the quarrymen 

 have long designated the stratum as the " core bed ", speaking of 

 the fosisils themselves as " cores ", an expressive term in view of 

 the fact that in most cases they have about the same size as the 

 drill holes, which also penetrate the bed vertically. One is often 

 forcibly impressed with the appearance of a fragment of the 

 stratum bearing on its face alternate drill holes and casts of 

 Orthoceras. These shells appear to have made no interrup- 

 tion in the sedimentation. The straticular lines run horizontally 

 to them, may often be seen crossing them, or if not crossing 

 they are not deflected or disturbed about them. The number of 

 shells in this particular stratum is incalculable. On the surface 

 of a stone measuring 3 feet by 18 inches I have counted the 

 transverse sections of 15 individuals, this but an average in- 

 stance. In the stratum overlying the " liver rock ", these shells 

 are less numerous but are present, and one of our photographs 

 shows one about 4 feet in length in the lower bench of this bed. 

 It is not only in the quarry of which I speak that these 

 Orthocera s-bearing strata have been observed. On the east 

 side of the Chenango valley at Oxford they occur in small quar- 

 ries situated from three fourths to one mile away from the Clarke 

 quarry, and likewise in the old Miller quarry (controlled by 

 the Clarke Co.) at Coventry or South Oxford, 2 miles due 

 south of Oxford. The dip of the rocks throughout this region 

 is very slight, and, as the strata at Coventi:y are pretty high, I 

 am disposed to believe that the appearance of this peculiar rock 

 at the latter place is not a reappearance of the same stratum, 

 but indicates a recurrence of the same phenomenon at a subse- 

 quent period. The rock at Coventry difl'ers from that at 

 Oxford in this respect. Instead of being a compact sandstone, 

 the layer is schistose and is taken out for unsawn flagstone. The 

 individuals of Orthoceras are seen penetrating successive 

 layers of flags, and on the sedimentalion surface of these flags the 



