﻿NIAGARA 
  FALLS 
  AND 
  VICINITY 
  I27 
  

  

  statement, 
  that 
  the 
  New 
  York 
  fauna 
  is 
  more 
  individuaHzed, 
  show- 
  

   ing.characteristics 
  stamping 
  it 
  in 
  some 
  degree 
  as 
  a 
  provincial 
  fauna. 
  

   The 
  Niagaran 
  fauna 
  of 
  the 
  central 
  states 
  however 
  is 
  more 
  closely 
  

   allied 
  to 
  the 
  European 
  Mid-Siluric 
  fauna 
  than 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  New 
  York 
  

   state, 
  from 
  which 
  we 
  may 
  conclude 
  that 
  the 
  pathway 
  of 
  communi- 
  

   cation 
  between 
  the 
  American 
  and 
  European 
  Siluric 
  seas 
  was 
  not 
  by 
  

   way 
  of 
  New 
  York, 
  a 
  conclusion 
  which 
  is 
  in 
  entire 
  harmony 
  with 
  

   those 
  derived 
  from 
  the 
  physical 
  development 
  of 
  this 
  region 
  and 
  the 
  

   characteristics 
  of 
  the 
  strata. 
  

  

  Weller^ 
  has 
  collected 
  data 
  which 
  indicate 
  that 
  the 
  pathway 
  of 
  

   migration 
  of 
  faunas 
  between 
  the 
  two 
  continents 
  was 
  by 
  way 
  of 
  the 
  

   arctic 
  region. 
  According 
  to 
  Weller's 
  interpretation 
  of 
  the 
  facts, 
  there 
  

   existed 
  in 
  North 
  America 
  during 
  Siluric 
  time 
  ". 
  . 
  . 
  a 
  north 
  polar 
  

   sea 
  with 
  a 
  great 
  tongue 
  stretching 
  southward 
  through 
  Hudson 
  bay 
  

   to 
  about 
  latitude 
  ^2,°. 
  There 
  were 
  doubtless 
  islands 
  standing 
  above 
  

   sealevel 
  within 
  this 
  great 
  epicontinental 
  sea; 
  and 
  at 
  the 
  latitude 
  of 
  

   New 
  York 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  bay 
  reaching 
  to 
  the 
  eastward, 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  

   Siluric 
  sediments 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  York 
  system 
  were 
  deposited. 
  Labra- 
  

   dor, 
  Greenland 
  and 
  Scandinavia 
  were 
  in 
  a 
  measure 
  joined 
  into 
  

   one 
  great 
  land 
  area, 
  though 
  perhaps 
  with 
  its 
  continuity 
  broken, 
  with 
  

   a 
  sea 
  shelf 
  lying 
  to 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  it 
  and 
  another 
  to 
  the 
  south. 
  An- 
  

   other 
  epicontinental 
  tongue 
  of 
  this 
  northern 
  sea 
  extended 
  south 
  into 
  

   Europe, 
  bending 
  to 
  the 
  west 
  around 
  the 
  southern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Scan- 
  

   dinavian 
  land 
  and 
  connecting 
  with 
  a 
  Silurian 
  Atlantic 
  ocean. 
  The 
  

   sea 
  shelf 
  to 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Labrador-Scandinavian 
  land 
  was 
  a 
  

   means 
  of 
  intercommunication 
  between 
  northern 
  Europe 
  and 
  the 
  in- 
  

   terior 
  of 
  North 
  America, 
  and 
  the 
  sea 
  shelf 
  to 
  the 
  south 
  of 
  this 
  land 
  

   was 
  a 
  pathway 
  between 
  England 
  and 
  eastern 
  Canada." 
  That 
  por- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  North 
  America 
  lying 
  to 
  the 
  west 
  of 
  a 
  line 
  drawn 
  from 
  the 
  

   Mississippi 
  to 
  the 
  Mackenzie 
  appears 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  dry 
  land 
  during 
  

   the 
  Niagara 
  period, 
  and 
  connected 
  with 
  the 
  Appalachian 
  land 
  on 
  the 
  

   east 
  by 
  the 
  westward 
  trending 
  axis 
  of 
  the 
  latter 
  in 
  the 
  southern 
  

   United 
  States. 
  

  

  At 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  Niagara 
  period, 
  there 
  appears 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  an 
  

   elevation 
  of 
  the 
  continent 
  which 
  converted 
  the 
  Bay 
  of 
  New 
  York 
  

  

  'Nat. 
  hist. 
  sur. 
  Chicago 
  acad. 
  sci. 
  bul. 
  4 
  and 
  Jour. 
  geol. 
  4:692-703. 
  

  

  