690 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALTIMORE MEETING 



These faunas run up at least into early Oriskanian in the Chapman fauna of 

 Aroostook county and the Moose River sandstones of Somerset county, Maine, 

 and in Gaspe in the Grande Greve limestones, as shown by Doctor Clarke. 



Near Montreal, on the north side of the Connecticut-Saint Lawrence trough, 

 there is evidence of the Helderberg in the Lower Saint Helens fauna and, as I 

 reported in 1902, 7 the Upper Saint Helens reaches the Oriskanian age. 



Limestones at Owls head, lake Memphremagog, and farther east at river 

 Chaudiere contain fossils of Onondagaian age, thus bringing conclusive proof of 

 marine waters in this eastern region to an epoch as late as Onondagaian. 



The Upper Saint Helens Island fauna is also in evidence with its species of 

 strongly Hamiltonian aspect and the block of limestone from the island of 

 Cote Saint Paul, which I originally thought contained only Hamiltonian 

 species. 



Thus the evidence seems to be cumulative in favor of Doctor Clarke's hy- 

 pothesis of Hamiltonian age for the Calcareous beds at the base of the Gaspe 

 sandstones. The opinion has been growing with me, however, that this inter- 

 pretation can not be correct, and recently I made a thorough review of the 

 facts with the results which I am about to set forth. The reason for applying 

 the test to the Gaspe series is because there the sequence is most complete, but 

 the decision will apply to all the associated faunas in which the mingling of 

 faunas appear. 



Doctor Clarke has reported forty-nine species from the Gaspe sandstone ; 

 the marine invertebrates are almost all from the Calcareous beds at the base 

 of the 7,000 feet Gaspe sandstones, which apparently follow conformably on 

 the Grande Greve limestone. 



In order to distinguish the beds and the fauna from the succeeding sand- 

 stones and conglomerates holding plants and brackish water types of fish, I 

 have called these basal beds the York River beds, from the river emptying 

 southeast of the small peninsula, where the main part of the fossils were 

 obtained. 



The number of species given names of Hamilton species and described as 

 having Hamiltonian affinities exceeds the number of strictly Oriskanian spe- 

 cies, which is the ground mentioned for calling the beds Hamiltonian in age. 

 I have critically examined the list, and am inclined to think that Doctor 

 Clarke has given undue weight to number of separate specific names, and has 

 overlooked the intrinsic testimony of the larger number of individuals belong- 

 ing to a few species of undoubted Oriskanian age. 



There are forty-nine species in the list, but the four vertebrates and the 

 Tropidocaris are not reported as associated with the marine fossils of the York 

 River beds. There are seventeen names either new species or generic names 

 without identification of species, thus leaving but twenty-seven species strictly 

 identified with the species of known faunas. 



Of the twenty-seven positively identified species, fourteen are listed in 

 faunas of known Hamiltonian age, and thirteen have been listed in faunas of 

 Oriskanian age. With this restriction the Hamiltonian species still have the 

 advantage in number. But of the fourteen positively identified Hamilton spe- 

 cies only three are indicated as common in the fauna ; all the others, therefore, 

 may be classed as not dominant in the York River fauna. 



7 See Canadian Record of Science, vol. ix, 1903, pp. 56-57. 



