ORDOVICIAN — KICHMOND GROUP 433 



and as being more strongly related to the Richmond Group fossils of the 

 northwest, in the Mississippi valley, than to those in Ohio valley near 

 Cincinnati. 



The same layer is also specially noted by Professor Safford in his sec- 

 tion of the rocks at Bakers station (locality 6) and in one of the following 

 paragraphs, although the identity of this bed with the Leipers Creek 

 bed is not established : * 



" The top of this (Nashville formation) is seen some distance below Bakers station. 

 The upper layer is red, very ferruginous limestone or dyestone ; is fossiliferous, and 

 8 feet thick. Below this are the usual Nashville layers, highly fossiliferous. 



" In the section last given a red, ferruginous limestone occurs. It is called dye- 

 stone by those living in the vicinity, and is used for dyeing purposes. The bed is 

 here 8 feet thick. Some of it appears rich enough to be used as an iron ore. A few 

 miles south or southwest of this point, in Davidson county, this or a similar bed of 

 red calcareous rock, rich in iron, occurs. The hills containing it are of a deep red 

 color. This rock resembles in some respects the dyestone of east Tennessee. It 

 rests upon rocks of the Nashville formation, to which it is referred. Its fossils, 

 however, although having a Lower Silurian (Ordovician) aspect, have not been 

 carefully studied, and it may be found necessary hereafter to include it in the 

 Niagara group, of which, in this region, it would then form the base. These re- 

 marks apply especially to the rock represented in the section." 



This layer is exposed just above the spring at the south end of the 

 first large quarry southeast of Bakers station. It is there about 4 feet 

 thick, and is immediately overlaid b}'' the Clinton. The fossils were 

 identified by Mr Charles Schuchert as Richmond Group fossils. One of 

 these, Strophomena wisconsinensis, again recalls the northwest relationship 

 of this horizon. 



Orthis proavita, found north of R. S. Elam's house, in the clay shale 

 above the so-called marble, is another of these northwestern species. A 

 variety of Hebertella insculpta with very fine strise, Dinorthis siihquadrata, 

 and a very typical variety of Platystrophia acutilirata are found at the 

 same locality. Hebertella occidentalis is rather common in the clay just 

 beneath the Clinton near Carol Litton's house. The fauna is quite varied. 



The Leipers Creek bed, including the limestones and clays carrying 

 the Richmond Group fauna, occurs also at other points along the western 

 side of the Cincinnati anticline. Similar beds are found near Fernvale 

 Springs, and a dyestone layer is said by Professor Safford to occur on the 

 waters of Harpeth river, in the southwestern part of Davidson county. 

 The fauna appears to be widely distributed in the northwestern part of 

 Maury county. 



* Loc. cit., pp. 281, 282. 



