7 o ANNUAL REPORT OF 



having led to the mortality of Eocene fishes found at Monte 

 Bolcac in the Veronese was discussed by prominent Italian geol- 

 ogists more than a century ago. 1 



As to the correspondence between the Triassic fauna of eastern 

 North America with organic assemblages of other regions, it 

 must be admitted that the fishes alone furnish insufficient data 

 for correlation. The vertebrate contingent of the Newark fauna 

 is essentially a local one, and does not stand in close agreement 

 with the corresponding element of the European or South African 

 Mesozoic. On the other hand, we must not overlook the fact that 

 a certain and not inconspicuous analogy exists between the New- 

 ark fish- fauna and that of the Alpine Trias, especially the Vir- 

 glorian (Muschelkalk) of Perledo, near Lake Como, which con- 

 tains a number of species of Semionotus closely resembling the 

 American forms. In the Keuper of Besano both Semionotus and 

 Ptycholepis occur, along with other forms having a Liassic aspect, 

 and the association of these two genera in our local fauna immedi- 

 ately suggests that the Newark beds belong to the uppermost divi- 

 sion of the Trias. 



This conclusion with respect to the relations of the Newark sys- 

 tem agrees with that shared by most palseobotanists who have 

 investigated its flora, and whose opinions are brought together 

 by I. C. Russell in his correlation paper on the Newark system. 2 

 The testimony furnished by palseobotany on this subject is held 

 by most writers to be definite and reliable. According to L. F. 

 Ward, 3 the most recent authority to discuss the relations of the 

 Newark flora, the evidence of fossil plants fixes the horizon of the 

 Newark "with almost absolute certainty at the summit of the 

 Triassic system, and narrows the discussion down chiefly to the 

 verbal question whether it shall be called Rhaetic or Keuper. 



1 Gazola, G., Lettere recentemente pubblicate suipesci fossili veronesi, con 

 annotazioni inediti agli estratti delle medesime. Milan, 1793, and Verona, 1794. 



2 Russell, I. C, Correlation Papers: The Newark System (Bull. U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. No. 85, pp. 126-131), 1892. Kummel, H. B., The Newark System 

 of New Jersey (Ann. Rept. State Geol. N. J. for 1897, pp. 23-159), 1898. 



3 Ward, L. F., The Plant-bearing Deposits of the American Trias (Bull. 

 Geol. Soc. America, vol. iii, pp. 23-31), 1891. Principles and Methods of 

 Geologic Correlation by means of Fossil Plants (Amer. Geol., vol. ix, pp. 

 34-47), 1 89 1. 



