BIGSBY PALEOZOIC BASIN OF NEW YORK. 



Table XI. {continued). 



427 



Authority. 



Fossils. Country. 



System. 



1 





Eifel 



Devonian. 

 Devonian. 

 Devonian. 

 Carbonif., Dev. 



Dev., Up. Sil. 

 Carbonif., Dev. 

 Upper Silurian. 

 Dev., Up. Sil. 

 Upper Silurian. 

 Devonian. 

 Dev., Up. Sil. 



Hall 



Engl., Europe. 

 Eifel 



De Vernueil ... 





Urii 



Europe, Engl.. 

 Belgium, &c. 

 Europe, Engl.. 

 Europe, Engl.. 

 Europe, Engl.. 

 Europe, Engl.. 

 Westmoreland 



Eifel, Usk ... 



De Vernueil ... 





De V., Sharpe .. 



reticularis 



Rhynchonella Nucula 









Avicula Boydii 



Sh., De V., Hali 

 De Verneuil ... 









On the Palaeozoic Basin of the State o/New York. 



Part II. Classification of the Palceozoic Strata of the State of 

 New York. By J. J. Bigsby, M.D., F.G.S., late British Secre- 

 tary to the Canadian Boundary Commission. 



[Read January 28, 1858.] 



The task of distributing the palaeozoic sedimentary rocks of New 

 York into natural divisions became easy after the publication of the 

 ' Silurian System ' of Sir Roderick Murchison. 



This State is peculiarly favourable to such studies, from the 

 directions, lofty sides, and other features of its principal lakes and 

 rivers. Many of the latter, such as the Genesee, Black, and Onondaga 

 Rivers, rise in the south, and, running north, cross and lay bare 

 successive strata in the most satisfactory manner. Other streams, 

 like the Mohawk, in the eastern part of New York, rise in the west, 

 and also traverse nearly the whole series. 



Glacial and other natural erosions, as well as some prolonged 

 artificial excavations, disclose the outcrops of the strata in a succes- 

 sion of exposures unparalleled in number and extent. In the coun- 

 ties of Herkimer and Otsego the cliffs often attain an elevation of a 

 thousand feet, followed closely by others surmounting them. 



No country in the world, says De Verneuil, presents so complete 

 and uninterrupted a development of the Silurian and Devonian sys- 

 tems, if we except Sweden, where it is on a small scale. In these 

 regions, therefore, our investigations are far simpler and more deci- 

 sive than amid the disturbances of many parts of Europe. We are 

 in the position of the anatomist who examines a perfect animal in- 

 stead of a mass of dismembered fragments. 



As types of comparison, the palaeozoic rocks of this State are to 

 be preferred to any other, as a whole. 



In the following observations we shall first consider the sediment- 

 ary strata of this Central Basin under the aspect of groups, as 

 established by the official geologists of New York — this appearing 



VOL. XIV. PART I. 2 F 



