426 W. M. DAVIS AND S. W. LOPEK FOSSILIFEKOUS TKIASSIC SHALE. 



fossils have thus been discovered. The anterior shales were found at one 

 point in the Lamentation block by excavating where there were no out- 

 croppings, but where it was judged the fossiliferous beds ought to occur. 



The Localities explored. 



Anterior Shales : 1. Durham. — The anterior black shales are found in a 

 stream bed on the western slope of Totoket mountain, near its northern 

 curve in the southern limit of the town of Durham, where I have worked 

 them for the past twenty years. The shales are now difficult to reach on 

 account of water that fills the pits, and no search has been made here this 

 year. The species heretofore found at this point have, however, been in- 

 cluded in the tabular list given below. They are described as from " Dur- 

 ham " in Professor Newberry's monograph. 



2. Bluff Head. — This is another outcrop in the same Totoket block and 

 of the same bed as the preceding, but about two miles east of it, and north 

 of the bold northeastern end of the main trap ridge, known as Bluff head. 

 It lies near the northern line of Guilford. I found this bed about two years 

 ago by following up a stream in which a boy had picked up a fossil fish. 

 The shales are much decomposed and need careful handling, but the speci- 

 mens are in good form. They closely resemble those from Durham. 



3. Higby. — Black shales with fish scales were found by Professor Davis 

 and myself last June in a ravine between the anterior and main trap ridges at 

 the northern end of Higby mountain, about half a mile south of Highland 

 station, on the Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut Eiver railroad. This 

 was the first point at which discovery of fossils rewarded our search on a 

 predicted horizon in the formation. An excavation in the bank secured a 

 number of fragmentary specimens of fishes and plants. Large foot-prints 

 were found in an associated sandstone. 



4. Berlin. — No natural outcrops of black shales were found in the Lam- 

 entation block ; but an excavation made at their expected horizon, about 

 fifty feet above the anterior trap sheet, resulted in finding them, although of 

 small thickness. This w^as in the southern part of Berlin, east of the Berlin- 

 Meriden road, on land belonging to Mr. George Hall, near the house of Mr. 

 Robert Hurlburt. The specimens were few in number and of poor condi- 

 tion, but sufficed to identify the shales. 



5. Southington. — An old cement quarry on the back of the anterior trap 

 ridge in the Ragged Mountain block (called South High rock in Professor 

 Davis' paper on the faults near Meriden) contains some dark shales in 

 which a number of plants were found. Fossil fishes are said to have been 

 found here years ago. One specimen was discovered last summer by Mr. 

 J. B. Woodworth, of the United States Geological Survey. 



