430 Safford and Schuchert — Camden Chert of Tennessee 



be Oriskany. The fact that the formation was one of chert 

 also pointed to this. 



Afterwards, in 1885, 1886, and 1887, I visited localities 

 where I thought the Camden might outcrop. One of these is 

 Big Sandy Station, in Benton, on the Memphis branch of the 

 Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and near the point where the 

 road crosses Big Sandy River. Here I found the chert well 

 developed and abounding in fossils. The outcrops are as 

 extensive and as good as at Camden. For several miles south 

 of Big Sandy, the chert appears on the hillsides as loose angu- 

 lar gravel. 



Five miles south, on the Lower Camden road, Lower Helder- 

 berg limestones are seen cropping out from beneath Camden 

 chert, with Tertiary beds also overlapping all in unconformable 

 contact. 



In Henry County the Camden chert outcrops in considerable 

 areas, west and south of the William's Mill locality. It is seen 

 in limited thickness above the Lower Helderberg in Decatur 

 County, and in the same relation, east of the Tennessee River, 

 in Stewart County. In the latter locality, it outcrops in the 

 bluff on the Cumberland River below Cumberland City. The 

 greatest development of it, however, is on the west side of the 

 Tennessee River, in a strip of country lying in Henry, Benton, 

 and Decatur Counties. 



In 1897, I called the attention of Mr. Schuchert to the 

 Camden chert, at the same time trusting he might be able to 

 visit the Camden locality. This he did, collecting a series of 

 fossils, which he studied, kindly giving me the results. I am 

 under special obligation to him for this visit. 



Part II. The Camden Loicer Oriskany. 

 By Charles Schuchert. 



In the spring of 1897, the writer collected for the U. S. 

 National Museum Lower Helderberg fossils in western Ten- 

 nessee, and while in Nashville, Professor Safford also directed 

 his attention to a lot of Camden chert organisms. Since no 

 strata of Oriskany age had been recorded in Tennessee, the 

 importance of determining the equivalency of the Camden 

 chert with other regions made it desirable to know more of its 

 fauna, and with that object in view, a collection was made at 

 Camden. 



The fossils of the Camden chert are, as a rule, natural casts 

 of both the interior and exterior of the organism, and preserve 

 the fined markings in detail. This fauna is closely related to 

 that described by Meek and Worthen* from the " Clear Creek 



* Geol. Surv., Ill, vols, i, ii, and iii. 



