PALAEONTOLOGY: EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 41 



BERNARDSTON. 



Bernardston lies on the Boston and Maine railroad a few miles 

 west of the Connecticut river, and is the last village this side of 

 the Vermont line. The locality of the crinoidal limestone is about 

 three-fourths of a mile north of the " New England house " on 

 the east slope of West mountain, back of the house of Mr. Wil- 

 liams. (See Dana's map, '73.) The exposures are in a number of 

 "pits." 



The fossiliferous rocks consist of limestones overlain by 

 quartzites, the latter having a shaly character just above the 

 limestone. The fossils of the quartzite occur chiefly in these 

 shaly layers. 



Whitfield regards the limestone as of middle Silurian age; and 

 the shaly beds overlying, as of middle Devonian age. 



In the shaly layers above the limestone, occur, according to 

 Whitfield, many casts and impressions of brachiopods, including : 

 Strophomena rhomboidalis (= Leptmna rhomboidalis). 

 Spirifer cf. disjunctus. 

 Rhynchonella , two species. 

 ? Cryptonella eudora. 

 Cyrtina cf. hamiltonensis. 



A number of other species occur, and also some corals (Strep - 

 telasma?). 



In the limestone, Whitfield found two species of Favosites, 

 Crinoid stems, and a Syringopora?. 



In his recent paper, Prof. B. K. Emerson concludes that the 

 "limestone, magnetite, and the base of the quartzite above 

 the limestone, may be placed with certainty near the base of 

 the Chemung " (p. 374). This makes the whole series upper 

 Devonian. 



CARBONIC SERIES. 

 Rocks of the Carbonic series occur in many places in eastern 

 Massachusetts ; but few localities are fossiliferous, and those that 

 are seldom furnish fossils in a well-preserved condition. Prob- 

 ably the best-preserved fossils found in this region were those 

 obtained by Teschemacher from the old anthracite coal mines at 

 Mansfield (N. Y., X. H. & H. railroad, Providence div., 25 miles). 

 He mentions the following species : 



