﻿30 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  the 
  accessory 
  evidence 
  is 
  confirmatory 
  of 
  an 
  age 
  for 
  these 
  deposits 
  

   essentially 
  equivalent 
  to 
  the 
  Oriskany. 
  

  

  Still 
  farther 
  south 
  at 
  the 
  north 
  line 
  of 
  Massachusetts 
  is 
  the 
  well 
  

   known 
  occurrence 
  of 
  partly 
  metamorphosed 
  Paleozoic 
  fossils 
  at 
  

   Bernardston, 
  contained 
  in 
  a 
  limestone 
  and 
  an 
  overlying 
  quartzite. 
  

   These 
  fossils, 
  of 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  had 
  opportunity 
  to 
  examine 
  large 
  

   series, 
  are 
  invariably 
  distorted 
  in 
  the 
  quartzite 
  where 
  they 
  most 
  

   abotmd 
  so 
  that 
  any 
  resemblance 
  they 
  may 
  assume 
  is 
  too 
  often 
  a 
  

   resemblance 
  by 
  distortion 
  and 
  a 
  determination 
  thereof 
  carries 
  a 
  

   large 
  element 
  of 
  fiction 
  and 
  imagination. 
  I 
  believe, 
  however, 
  that 
  

   the 
  conclusions 
  reached 
  long 
  since 
  by 
  Whitfield 
  in 
  regard 
  to 
  the 
  

   age 
  of 
  these 
  rocks, 
  that 
  the 
  limestones 
  with 
  large 
  crinoid 
  columns 
  

   are 
  Helderbergian 
  and 
  the 
  quartzites 
  above 
  with 
  distorted 
  brachio- 
  

   pods 
  are 
  Oriskany, 
  is 
  as 
  close 
  an 
  approximation 
  to 
  the 
  truth 
  as 
  

   the 
  facts 
  permit. 
  

  

  We 
  must 
  now 
  again 
  call 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  altitude 
  of 
  the 
  Helder- 
  

   bergian 
  and 
  Oriskanian 
  rocks 
  in 
  the 
  Helderberg 
  mountains 
  of 
  

   New 
  York. 
  They 
  stand 
  in 
  an 
  escarpment 
  facing 
  the 
  west, 
  north 
  

   and 
  east 
  overlain 
  by 
  the 
  great 
  thickness 
  of 
  later 
  Devonic 
  consti- 
  

   tuting 
  the 
  Catskill 
  mountains. 
  Their 
  faces 
  are 
  terraced 
  faces 
  of 
  

   erosion. 
  Their 
  former 
  extent 
  was 
  in 
  the 
  directions 
  which 
  they 
  

   face. 
  Beyond 
  any 
  doubt 
  these 
  rocks 
  extended 
  eastward 
  of 
  the 
  

   Hudson 
  and 
  into 
  western 
  Massachusetts. 
  In 
  the 
  view 
  of 
  Prof. 
  

   B. 
  K. 
  Emerson, 
  the 
  ultimate 
  authority 
  on 
  the 
  crystallines 
  of 
  Massa- 
  

   chusetts, 
  there 
  was 
  here 
  in 
  western 
  Massachusetts 
  an 
  undoubted 
  

   Precambric 
  north-south 
  ridge 
  whose 
  position 
  above 
  water 
  was 
  in- 
  

   dicated 
  by 
  the 
  presence 
  of 
  a 
  Cambric 
  quartzite 
  fringing 
  the 
  greater- 
  

   portion 
  of 
  the 
  outcrops. 
  This 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  and 
  undoubtedly 
  

   vvas 
  repeatedly 
  depressed 
  and 
  elevated 
  and 
  the 
  adjoining 
  Siluric 
  

   masses 
  brought 
  to 
  day 
  but 
  there 
  are 
  no 
  antagonistic 
  considera- 
  

   tions 
  for 
  not 
  assuming 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  all 
  transgressed 
  during 
  the 
  

   Devonic 
  and 
  these 
  Devonic 
  deposits 
  removed 
  entirely 
  by 
  erosion. 
  

   Toward 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  this 
  region 
  near 
  the 
  north 
  line 
  of 
  the 
  state 
  

   is 
  a 
  break 
  in 
  the 
  Precambric 
  ridge 
  which 
  is 
  of 
  considerable 
  width, 
  

   extending 
  into 
  Vermont 
  and 
  this 
  may 
  have 
  well 
  serA^ed 
  as 
  a 
  pas- 
  

   sage 
  for 
  Devonic 
  sediment 
  from 
  New 
  York 
  into 
  the 
  Connecticut 
  

   trough. 
  East 
  of 
  the 
  Connecticut 
  river 
  there 
  is 
  only 
  a 
  limited 
  area 
  

   of 
  Precambric 
  near 
  the 
  Rhode 
  Island 
  line, 
  extending 
  south 
  into 
  

   Connecticut 
  along 
  Long 
  Island 
  sound. 
  This 
  is 
  everywhere 
  mar- 
  

   gined 
  by 
  a 
  quartzite 
  interpreted 
  as 
  Cambric, 
  and 
  this 
  with 
  the 
  

   fossil-bearing 
  Cambric 
  localities 
  at 
  Nahant, 
  North 
  Attlebury 
  and 
  

   Braintree 
  was 
  raised 
  into 
  land 
  and 
  so 
  continued 
  through 
  Siluric 
  

  

  