DIFFERENT PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA IN LATE PALEOZOIC TIME 77 



which in the ]\Ionongahela are often so like those of the Dunkard as to make them 

 easily confused if it were not for other well-defined strata associated therewith. 

 There are but few really red sandstones, and those are usually only coated red 

 on the outside or weathered surface in the Ohio Dunkard. The red is thus almost 

 confined to the shales. In the northern part of the Dunkard covered area the 

 red beds are to be found chiefly in the Greene formation, but to the southward 

 most of the shale in the whole series is red. In the main, these shales, sandstones, 

 limestones, and beds of coal represent land and swamp or fresh-water deposits, 

 but the presence of gypsum in certain of the shales and sandstones, and again 

 marine or brackish-water fossils in other beds, indicates that these conditions at 

 times gave place to others of a very different character. 



"The Dunkard series as a whole is not very fossilif erous ; in fact, it is almost 

 as barren of the identifiable traces of life as it is of the workable coal seams, which 

 originally suggested the term 'Upper Barren Measures' for this deposit. In 

 addition to the occasional plant fragment that may be found in almost any part 

 of the series, there are certain rather well defined horizons in the Ohio Dunkard 

 which have yielded important fossils. Plants are, of course, of first importance. 

 Their remains are occasionally to be found in the roof shales of any of the coal 

 seams or even in beds of argillaceous shale and sandstone. Almost any outcrop 

 of limestone may be found to contain small fresh-water gastropods and ostracods. 

 The middle and upper Washington limestones often contain fish plates and teeth, 

 some of which are referable to sharks, and are therefore probabl}' marine. A 

 Lingula occurs in the shales associated with the Washington coal. The lowest 

 shales of the series are sometimes a black carbonaceous mass associated with a 

 hard limestone, and these beds contain scales, teeth, and coprolites, all of which 

 are probably fish remains. The most important find of the whole fossil collection, 

 however, was made in the red shales of the Washington formation In the vicinity 

 of Elba and Marietta. At the former of these places, near the base of the 

 Dunkard, amphibian coprolites were found in relative abundance. These are 

 remarkably similar to those found in the Permian of the Western States. At the 

 latter place, during the past summer, fragments of a neural spine of Edaphosaiinis 

 were found In the sandstones associated with the red shales just above the Lower 

 Marietta sandstone. The remains of this reptile have never before been found 

 in the United States outside of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Alexico.^ The 

 importance of this find must be very evident, since it agrees with the earlier 

 conclusions drawn from identifications of the Dunkard flora and proves the age 

 of the Dunkard to be identical with the Permian or Permo-Carbonlferous of 

 Texas. After having seen the whole vertebrate collection. Dr. S. W. WlUIston 

 says that 'of the fishes I recognize teeth like those of Diplodus from the Texas 

 Permian, but this typQ runs through the Pennsylvanian and is not characteristic. 

 The Elasmobranch spine is unlike any that I have seen in Texas. The coprolites 

 can not be distinguished from those commonly found in Texas and New Mexico. 

 * * * The Edaphosaurus spine is unquestionable, small as it is. The range of the 

 family in Texas Is both Wichita and Clear Fork. It occurs in New Mexico In the 

 El Cobre beds, which the accumulated evidence now places as the equivalent of the 

 lower Texas beds (Wichita). * * * In Europe Edaphosaurus occurs in the upper- 

 most Carboniferous of Kuonova and the Rothliegende of Saxony.' (Personal 

 letter.)" 



^ Dr. Stauffer here overlooks the discoveries made by Raymond in the Pittsburgh red 

 shale of western Pennsylvania. 



