INVESTIGATORS OF THE MEDINA 303 



continental. . . . Moreover, it is now pretty well ascertained that the 

 typical Oneida conglomerate of Oneida County is the time equivalent of 

 the Upper Medina of the Niagara section, and that both probably should 

 be united to the Clinton, while the lower 1,100 feet of the Medina of 

 western New York may possibly represent the continental or estuarine 

 phase of deposits, representing elsewhere the later Richmond period." 



In 1908^^ Grabau names the Lower Medina the Queen ston, writing as 

 follows: "The dividing line between Ordovicic and Siluric is drawn at 

 the base of the Upper Medina or the Medina proper [about 125 feet 

 thick at Niagara River]. For the red Medina shales now recognized as 

 of Ordovicic age the name Queenston beds is proposed, from the town of 

 that name on the Niagara River opposite Lewiston, where these beds are 

 partly exposed.'^ Later in the same year Chadwick^^ also names the 

 Lower Medina, calling' it Lewiston after Lewiston, Ontario, and regarding 

 it as the equivalent of the Richmondian. With the Clinton the Upper 

 Medina "might be merged without violence. In any case the (restricted) 

 Medina falls within the Niagaran." Finally, in 1909,^* Grabau ranges 

 the Medina and Oneida of New York and the Tuscarora of Pennsylvania 

 with the Clinton in the Siluric, while the Oswego of New York and the 

 Tyrone (later renamed Bald Eagle because of preoccupation) are referred 

 to the Lorraine; the Queenston and the Juniata are, in the main, re- 

 garded as of Richmond time, while "the lower part must be considered as 

 Lorraine." 



Lardner Yanuxem. — If we are to remain strictly by the law of priority 

 in naming formations, we can not accept either Queenston or Lewiston, 

 but must go back to Vanuxem, 1839,^^ and his term Oswego. To make 

 this matter clear let us study Vanuxem in the original; He says : '^Bed 

 Sandstone of Oswego. The red sandstone of Oswego is the lowest rock" 

 of the counties "Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga. . . . From the east- 

 ern part of Oswego County, to the Niagara River, numerous brine springs 

 are found in this red sandstone." The rocks which "appear from under 

 the 'millstone grit' [= Oneida = Upper Medina], and from above the 

 green shale of Herkimer . . . are the shales and green sandstone of 

 Salmon River, and the red sandstone of Oswego." The latter appears 

 "immediately under the 'grit.' " 



Nor can we accept Oneida, for Vanuxem has named an equivalent in 

 1839:^^ "Gray Sandstone of Cayuga. To the south of the red sand- 



32 Science, vol. 27, 1908, p. 022. 



33 Ibid., vol. 28, 1908. p. 347. 



3* Ibid., vol. 29. 1909, pp. 8.54-,3,56 ; also .Tour. Geol., vol. 17. 1909, pp. 234-238. 

 35 Third Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Geol. Surv., 1839, pp. 244-246. 

 38 Op. cit., pp. 242, 246, 



