76 The Lower Devonian Deposits of Maryland 



The only other important forms are Lamellibranchs, Crinoids, and some 

 Trilobites and Gasteropods, whilst Cephalopods and Corals are few in 

 number. Some species .... go through the whole or almost the whole 

 series of beds, whilst others have a more restricted range. In general the 

 constitution of the fauna points to a shallow sea, and the ripple-marks 

 frequently met with at all horizons also speak in favor of this view." "" 



The present writer has seen the German sections and has studied the 

 faunas, and it will here be sufficient to state that further comparison 

 between this area and that of Maryland need not be instituted, as the 

 faunas of the latter do not belong in the northern European Province. 

 The Ehenish Lower De^■onian begins with the Taunus and Gedinnian 

 series having small faunas which are wholly unknown in America. Above 

 follow the Siegen and the Coblenzian series, with a succession of faunas 

 closely related to those of the outer St. Lawrence Sea at Gaspe, Perce, and 

 Dalhousie, Canada. These American biotas have been recently described 

 by Clarke,'' and in them are several of the most characteristic Oriskany 

 species also found in Maryland, indicating that in late Lower Devonian 

 time the Appalachian trough was in direct connection with the St. 

 Lawrence Sea. 



The nearest European analogue of the earliest member of the Lower 

 Devonian of Maryland is undoubtedly to be found in Bohemia, and is 

 known as the Konieprusian. Its fossils have been described in great 

 detail, with the finest of illustration, by Barrande, in various volumes of 

 his great classic Systeme silurien du centre de la Boheme. The strati- 

 graphic description of this Devonian is well set forth by Katzer, in his 

 Geologie von Bohmen, second edition, Prag, 1902. 



In 1900, the writer compared the Konieprusian fauna \vith that of the 

 Helderberg and found the two to be very similar, in fact parts of one 

 faunal realm. He also found that both appear to represent the oldest 

 Devonian life. Close resemblances are seen among the brachiopods and 

 the most important Helderberg forms have direct equivalents in the 



' Text-book of Comparative Geology, 1893, p. 92. 



= Clarke, J. M., Early Devonic History of New York and Eastern North 

 America. Memoir 9, N. Y. State Mus., part i, 1908; part ii, 1909. 



