G. I. Kunz — Meteoric Iron from West Virginia. 145 



extent, many interstratifications of limestones in the upper two- 

 thirds of its thickness, and where thickest in Perry County, 

 contains the Lower Helderberg forms, Leperditia alta and Bey- 

 richia notata, low down in the series, while according to Prof. 

 Claypole it is not definitely separable from the Lower Helder- 

 berg above (Pennsylvania Eeports, F 2 , G 6 and G T ) ; and that 

 the Lower Helderberg which is very thin in Ohio, Ontario and 

 western New York, thickens eastward, shows its distinctive 

 life characters on Cayuga Lake, and attains its fullest and most 

 diversified development in eastern New York, where the salif- 

 erous series has quite died out. It seems not impossible that 

 these two formations, usually considered distinct, may have 

 been to a large extent simultaneously deposited, the one in 

 lengthened basins near the sea border, which when filled with 

 their peculiar accumulations, gave place to sea-shore deposits 

 of limestones, often impure, as in the west; the other, in open 

 waters which, at first contaminated with mechanical sediments, 

 later became clear, and in which, from oscillations of level affect- 

 ing chiefly its eastern areas, limestones of varied characters 

 were accumulated whose western extension had little variabil- 

 ity. Under such circumstances, it would not be difficult to 

 conceive why the Lower Helderberg should thin to the west- 

 ward where the Salina appears in greatest volume, nor why it 

 should there be represented by impure limestones, resembling 

 the lowest portion of the eastern series, while more nearly 

 synchronous with its higher portions. It would also be nat- 

 ural to expect, in this case, that the fauna of the western strata 

 would consist of forms migrating from the east, and, on this 

 account, partaking largely of the life characters of the lower 

 eastern deposits, since such migrations are likely to take place 

 very slowly. 



Art. XV. — Meteoric Iron from Jenny's Creek, Wayne County, 

 West Virginia; by George F. Kunz. 



[Read at New York Academy of Sciences, Nov. 30, 1885.] 



During the early part of last April a 9-ounce piece of min- 

 eral, supposed to be silver, was sent to Dr. H. G. Torrey for 

 determination, by Major Delafield Du Bois, of Charleston, West 

 Yirginia. Dr. Torrey found it on examination to be an iron of 

 meteoric origin, and kindly loaned it to me for description. 

 The piece delivered to me was supposed to be all of the fall, 

 and on this supposition it was described as the Charleston, 

 Kanawa County, West Va., meteorite, in a paper read at the 

 Ann Arbor meeting of the American Association. Through the 



Am. Jour. Sci — Third Series, Vol. XXXI, No. 182.— Feb., 1886. 

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