Area in Louisiana and Eastern Texas. 67 



somewhat the pinnules of Sphenopteris decomposita 

 Kidston, from the Calciferous sandstone (Lower Carboni- 

 ferous) of Scotland; but nothing could be stated posi- 

 tively of such a fragment. Other fragments resemble 

 Cordaites.^^ 



C. R. Eastman/^ who studied fish remains from the 

 Caney shale, stated that their character tends to support 

 the upper Missis sippian age of the Caney. 



A part of a recent summary by George H. Girty^^ on 

 the invertebrate fauna of the Caney shale follows : 



''"When the formation [Caney] was first mapped and when its 

 fauna was first described the Caney shale was referred, as it is 

 now, to the upper part of the Mississippian series. * * * 



' ' Since this conclusion was formed much evidence has accumu- 

 lated, and it tends strongly to corroborate the opinion that the 

 Caney shale is of Mississippian age. Hundreds of collections of 

 invertebrate fossils have been made in Oklahoma and Arkansas in 

 areas adjacent to those in w^hich the Caney shale occurs. In these 

 collections a pronounced faunal change is shown between the 

 Morrow group, which is of Pottsville age, and the formations that 

 underlie it, whose faunas, though differing more or less pro- 

 foundly from the typical Mississippian faunas farther north, are 

 nevertheless undoubtedly Mississippian. Wherever faunas of the 

 Mississippian type occur they occur below faunas of the Morrow 

 type, and the strata that contain them can be traced to other sec- 

 tions in which the same relation of rocks and faunas is main- 

 tained. The same relations are shown by the Caney shale and the 

 formation that lies next above it, the Wapanucka limestone. The 

 Caney fauna has conspicuously the facies of the Mississippian 

 faunas of the adjacent areas in Oklahoma and Arkansas. This 

 fact admits of no doubt. Furthermore, the fauna of the Wapa- 

 nucka limestone is closely allied to that of the Morrow, which 

 overlies the Mississippian rocks in nearby areas and without 

 much doubt represents the same geologic epoch. 



' ' It is true that as the Morrow is believed to be of upper Potts- 

 ville age other rocks may occur below it and still be Pottsville, but 

 in that case their faunas might justly be expected to have the 

 Pottsville rather than the Mississippian facies. It may be well to 

 recall that the Caney fauna, so far as it is known, comes from the 

 lower half of the formation, but so long as collections continue to 

 show the facies of the Mississippian faunas that occur below the 

 Morrow the Caney shale can logically be placed only in the Mis- 

 sissippian. ' ' 



" Eastman, C. E., Braiii structures of fossil fishes from the Caney shales ; 

 Geol. Soc. America, Bull., vol. 24, pp. 119-120, 1913. 



" Statement for use in the Hot Springs folio (in preparation). 



