DESCRIPTION OF THE FORMATIONS. F\ 65 



it has yielded no fossils, or they are so indistinct and diffi- 

 cult of extraction as to be nearly worthless, but at its north- 

 ern exposures it is fossiliferous and here was obtained 

 the evidence of its position. ('See report on Madison town- 

 ship. 



3. The Marceilus Limestone is only a continuation up- 

 ward of the shales with an increase of lime to such an ex- 

 tent that the beds are very hard and solid, especially in 

 Madison township, and can be burnt into good lime. They 

 are for the greater part of their thickness interbedded with 

 thin seams of dark shale, which gradually increase in 

 number and thickness until they merge in the overlying 

 beds of the black Marceilus. 



4. The Marceilus Upper Iron Ore will be found described 

 in the chapter on the iron ores. 



5. The Marceilus Black Shale. This formation presents 

 few features of interest in the county. It is almost unfos- 

 siliferous at all the exposures where I have examined it. 

 Its thickness is very uniform. At its base it is very ferru- 

 ginous and even pyritous, but these features disappear up- 

 ward, the blackness diminishes and it passes gradually into 

 the base of the Hamilton Lower Shale. The exception to 

 be noted in regard to the fossils is that at almost every out- 

 crop in the county the lower beds yield in great abundance 

 tliH mi ante vegetable remains which have been described 

 from beds of similar age in Canada, by Dr. Dawson, under 

 the name of Sporangites. I See * ' On Rhizocarps in the Palae- 

 ozoic Period." Dr. J. W. Dawson.) The same or similar 

 fossils have been reported by Prof. E. Orton, of Columbus, 

 Ohio, from the Marceilus beds of that State. Whatever 



-^ils may be their wide extension on this horizon is 

 thus rendered certain. 



The soil formed by the disintegration of the Marceilus 

 black shale is among the poorest in the county but it yields 

 the very best material for roads. Accordingly the roads 

 upon it^ outcrops or near them are often smooth, dry. and 

 hard, as rhos<- at Little Germany and Centre Mills. Un- 

 fortunately thes^ outcrops are few and far between. 

 5 P. 



