1 7 < ) N i: W YORK ST A T E M U SE U M 



in wcsicrii New York niid Cniiada on the Cobleskill. In western 

 .Mai\lan(l I In Oi-iskanv is :i.'(l IVct lliick. and rests on the New 

 Scoilainl whicli iist'lf is onlv (l-Jt feet thick, wiiile tlie Beeraft is 

 absent altoj^i'thci-. In inanv localities in New York and elsewhere 

 tlie iinconfonnii V at the base of the Oriskanv is emphasized by 

 the tact lliai ihc lower bods are conglomeratic and contain frag- 

 ments of the nndeilvinii' limestones.^ 



Chirke has suggested that the Oriskany of Beeraft mountain 

 is merely the deeper water facies of the normal Oriskany which 

 is typically developed in the northern Helderbergs and the Scho- 

 harie region. The fossils of the type locality, Oriskany Falls 

 N. Y. are considered by Clarke as not indigenous, the character 

 of the deposit indicating a habitat unfavorable for the large 

 brachiopods found in the rock. In the townships of Oneida and 

 North Cayuga Out., 50 miles west of Butl'alo, a remarkable assem- 

 blage of fossils occui's in the Oriskany beds, A\iiich Scliuchert 

 has regarded as forming a typical late Oriskany fauna (Decew- 

 ville). The strata here rest unconformably on the Lower Manlius 

 which, as at Butfalo, is traversed by sandstone dikes, and they 

 are immediatelv succeeded bv the Onondaga limestone. The 

 corals of the latter are mingled Avith the fossils of this phase 

 of the Oriskany in such a manner that exce])t for the lithic dis- 

 similarity of the two formations, the}^ could not be separated. 

 Out of the 71 species found in these Decewville beds ''not less 

 than 41* ])ass uj) from the lower horizon into the Onondaga.''^ 

 On account of the marked Onondaga aspect of the fauna, Schu- 

 chei-t holds that it is unwise to call these Ontario beds Oriskany 

 any longer, and has i)roi)osed the name? Decewville for it, from 

 the nearest village, which in turn bears the name of the early 

 describer of these beds, John DeCew. 



The al)sence of the normal (Schoharie county) Oriskany in 

 western New \^)rk and at Cayuga Ont. is readily explained by 



'See Rogers, W. B. Am. Jour. Sci. 1842. 4;J:1S1, for examples of pro- 

 nounced nncoiir<:i'iiiity ;m(l evidence of (M-osion nt llie base of the Oriskany 

 in Pennsylvania. 



-'Schncheil. Lor. cil. \\)()2. \). tiaS. 



