82 LOWER PENINSULA. 



drift on the surface. Below the sand rock the boring was continued 

 for lOO feet through blue shales, without reaching their limit. At 

 Marengo, 6 miles west of Albion, a boring went through 60 feet 

 of drift before striking the sand rock, which was found 200 feet 

 thick. Below it shales were penetrated through a thickness of 200 

 feet. 



From Albion westward the valley of Kalamazoo River offers 

 frequent exposures of the upper sandstones of the Waverly group, 

 as far as Battle Creek, and for some distance further. The sand- 

 stones of Marshall and Battle Creek have become famous through 

 the abundance of their fossils. Prof. Winchell has described a 

 large number of species from these localities, some of which are in 

 good preservation and easily recognized ; but a great proportion 

 of those described, the originals of which are deposited in the 

 University Museum of Michigan, are mere fragments offering 

 so few species characteristic, that it would have been better to 

 omit all description until additions to the collected material should 

 justify it. The most common forms of fossils in this rock are casts 

 of bivalves, their shells being rarely preserved. I enumerate 

 Nucula Hubbardi, Nuculastella, Nucula lowensis, Nuculabellastria, 

 Myalina Michiganensis, Solen quadrangularis, Solen scalpriformis, 

 Sanguinolaria similis, Edmondia equimaryinalis ; likewise various 

 forms of Orthonota, Cyrtodonta, Allorisma, Avicula, and Aviculo- 

 pecten. Several forms of Productus, Spirifer, Spiriferina, Rhyn- 

 chonella, Bellerophon galericulatus, Bellerophon rugosiusculus, 

 Goniatites Allei, Goniatites Marshallensis, Nautilus of various kinds 

 (Trematodiscus), also different forms of Orthoceras, fish remains of 

 the shark tribe, and vegetable remains (Lepidodendron), as well as 

 traces of corals and Bryozoa, are observed. Formerly a number of 

 quarries were worked at Marshall along the bed of Kalamazoo 

 River, .which are now abandoned. The superficial rock ledges are 

 a micaceous soft sand rock of yellowish-brown color, splintered into 

 thin, uneven slabs by exposure ; the deeper, more protected rock 

 beds are harder, of bluish color, and rich in calcareous cement. 

 Interlaminated with them are seams of a blue arenaceous shale. 

 The harder rock answers a good purpose as a building material. 

 The fossils are confined to certain seams, or at least rarely are found 

 in other parts of the rock. Within the city of Marshall, a great 

 number of artesian wells have been opened by boring through the 



