84 CARBONIFEROUS FORMATIONS AND FAUNAS OF COLORADO. 



Ijciulvillc; anil of two small oiitlyiiiy patclios to Iho west. In the westorn part are 

 two local C'aH>onifcrous areas, one of thcni. Fossil Kidge, beino- an outliei' to the 

 south of the Elk Mountain area, and the other, called the Tomichi dome, a smaller 

 and more isolated patch to the south of this. 



Referrino-, it would seem, in a general way to the stratigraphic series in his dis- 

 trict, rather than to any particular occurrence, Endlich saj's (page 308): "Resting 

 inuiiediately upon the granite, we tind the Silurian characterized by but f«w fossils 

 and the well-known qiiartzitie formation. At times the rock partakes more of the 

 character of a limestone, but in that case segregations of siliceous matter, mostly in 

 the shape of chalcedony and hornstone, aii'ord a welcome lithologic character of 

 distinction. Wherever the Silurian formation occurs in section «, it conformably 

 underlies the Devonian and Carboniferous as far as could be ascertained." It would 

 be natural to interpret the quartzite to which he refers as representing the Sawatch 

 quartzite of the sections already discussed, his calcareous Silurian being the Yule 

 limestone, which is also frequently characterized by'cherty segregations; but in some 

 of his sections the calcareous beds are reported as underlying the siliceous ones, and 

 the quartzite in these cases can not be the Sawatch but must represent the Parting 

 formation. Endlich's expression would appear to indicate a belief on his part that 

 the calcareous and siliceous beds are only different aspects of the same series of 

 strata. There is some evidence, however, that the Yule limestone rests in some 

 cases immediately upon the granite, thus occui^ying a position similar to that of the 

 Sawatch without, of course, being in any sense its equivalent. 



While I believe that the Devonian is probabh' present in this area, the evidence 

 so far except in one instance is quite inconclusive, and the beds to which I make 

 reference seem not to be those which Endlich had in mind, if, indeed, he entertained 

 jjrecise views upon the subject. That his uncertainty in one case was considerable 

 appears from the lines: "Whether any of the strata above the ones just spoken of 

 should be referred to the Devonian, 1 am unable to say. The poorl}' preserved relics 

 of paleontological testimony that could be obtained were so few and unsatisfactory 

 that I am inclined to think the Devonian, if represented, is no formation of great 

 extent, either vertically or horizontally." The same lack of evidence and apparently 

 the same uncertainty seem to have existed in other instances where the Devonian is 

 cited. 



The Carboniferous recognized by Endlich consists of three divisions; a lower and 

 an upper limestone, and a heavy series of red sandstone included between them. The 

 lower limestone can probably be con-elated with the Leadville limestone, or possibly 

 the Leadville and Weber formations combined, and 1 expect that it will be found to 

 contain in addition to its Lower Carboniferous fauna, a Devonian one, similar to that 

 of the Ourav limestone, just as is the case in the regions to the north and west of 



