Maryland Geological Survey 357 



4 miles west of Hancock whicla is supposed to mark the top of the Eomney 

 formation. 



No. 1. Then after passing a covered interval of a few feet, olive shales 

 of the Woodmont member of the Jennings, with an occasional sandstone 2 

 or 3 inches in thickness, begin. These shales stand at a very high angle and 

 only the loose pieces on the surface can be examined. A little farther west 

 the shales are shown to better advantage by the side of the road in front of 

 the house of Mr. Banner Hess, 4 miles west of Hancock. There are but 

 few fossils simply fragments of Pterochnenia fragilis (Hall), Styliolina 

 fissurella (Hall), Bactrites adculns (Hall) and two or three fragments 

 of Goniatites having been found. There are also the usual marks of the 

 trails of animals in the smooth shales. That part of the section in which 

 the transition from the Eomney to the Jennings occurs is covered ; still 

 the interval is not great and it appears from the examination of the 

 section in the eastern part of Hancock that the Genesee shale is not 

 present. The sandstones in the upper part of the Romney are evidence of 

 shallower water than that in which the greater part of the formation was 

 deposited and perhaps in Washington County the deposit of the Genesee 

 shale pinched out. In the northeastern continuation of this belt in 

 Fulton County, Pa., Professor Stevenson reported Genesee shale " on 

 the west side of Tonoloway Ridge in Bethel Township " and also in the 

 continuation of the Hancock belt " on Tonoloway Creek near the northern 

 edge of Thompson Township," Flilton County.^ 



No. 2. Not far west of Mr. Hess' house, by the side of the road, are 

 slightly coarser fossiliferous and somewhat arenaceous shales containing 

 specimens of Spirifer mucronatus (Conrad) var. posterus Hall and Clarke, 

 Productella, and crinoid segments. Some of these shales are slightly 

 brownish but most of them, at least when Aveatliered, are of a buff to olive 

 color. Interstratified with the shales are shaly to thin bedded sandstones. 

 The dip in places is over 70° but there are small rolls so that it is not uni- 

 form. In the upper part of this zone are brownish argillaceous shales and 

 at the top a brownish massive sandstone, some 4 feet in thickness. 



' T\ p. 82. 



