212 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



eixxled aud its iracf in the vertical section was that of a smooth- 

 ened plane dipi>ing gently eastward toward the lake. 



The shells occurred mainly at the base of the stratified deposit 

 in sands resting directly on the till without trace of an interven- 

 ing unfossiliferous bed such as might have been laid down on the 

 till after the retreat of the ice sheet from the locality and the 

 incoming of the sea. The upi)er part of the gravels appear to be 

 of delta origin being on the whole coarser than the lower part of 

 the water-laid dej)Osit. The top of this deposit is over 340 feet 

 according to aneroid measurements; and the fossil shells occur 

 from near this level down the slope of the inclined bedding to 

 perhaps 320 feet. 



The following forms were collected, named in the order of their 

 abundance : Saxicava rugosa, Macoma groenlan- 

 dica, Bala n us sp., Mytilus edulis. 



Ries found Diatoms in the clay at Plattsburg. Shells and bones 

 have also been reported at this lower level. 



Fossils at Port Kent N. Y. One of the l>est known localities 

 in New York for the occurrence of Champlain fossils is at Port 

 Kent. Ebenezer Emmons^ who gives two plates of fossil 

 invertebrates found in the marine beds from various localities in 

 northern New York, New England and Canada, states that he 

 found the following list of species at Port Kent: 



Tritoninm angllcuin Tellina sp. 



T. fornicatum Tellina sp. 



Mytilus edulis Turritella 



Pecten islandicus Nucula portlandica 



Mya trunoata Bulla 



M. arenaria 



Sir Charles Lyell also gives an account of the shell locality at 

 Port Kent. In a small brook south of the place (near the present 

 railroad station) he observed at the bottom of thie section: first, 

 clay 30 feet thick with boulders; second, loam with shells 6 feet; 

 third, sand, 20 feet thick. He found four species of shells: 

 Mytilus edulis, Saxicava rugosa, Tellina 

 g r o e n 1 a n d i c a , and B a 1 a n u s miser. He states that 

 no shells were found at a greater hight than 40 feet above the 

 lake (about 138 feet above sea level). 



^Geol. N. Y. 2d Dist. 1842. p.l28 



