BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 25 



olive gray. It contains numerous small concretions from an 

 inch to a foot in diameter, many of which are composed wholly 

 or partly of iron pyrites. It is cut by two series of cleavage 

 planes at an angle a little greater than 90 degrees. In cliffs, 

 these cause a series of smooth faces and angles sometimes 

 extending vertically for ten feet or more. 



The Skaneateles shale merges into both the Cardiff below 

 and the Ludlowville above. No definite line of contact can be 

 distinguished. Dr. Grabau has designated a bed called the 

 Pteropod bed as the bed limiting it below and a calcareous bed 

 containing Strophalosia truncata as its uppermost bed. 



The Skaneateles is exposed in the Lake Erie cliffs at Athol 

 Springs and in the lower part of Avery's creek. In Smoke's 

 creek almost the entire formation is shown at the Town Line 

 Road on the south branch. In Cazenovia creek it forms sheer 

 cliffs almost continuously from below Lein's Park to the cliffs 

 above the bridge at the terminus of the Buffalo Southern Railway. 

 At this latter point the cliff is 42 feet high. Six feet from the 

 top of the rock section is a six inch layer of limestone which is 

 probably the layer designated by Grabau as terminating the 

 formation upward. 



At Blossom on Buffalo creek is a four foot ledge of limestone 

 which Bishop referred to the Skaneateles as a ''basal layer." In 

 many respects it is unique. It is made up of four layers, all 

 concretionary. Below these are about four feet of gray shale. 

 The shale layers immediately below the limestone are exceedingly 

 rich in fossils, mainly cyathophylloids of large size with a 

 few brachiopods and some trilobites. The fauna resembles in 

 every respect that of the Moscow and Encrinal, yet the ledge is 

 certainly near or at the junction of the Skaneateles and Cardiff. 



Ludlowville Shale. 



Superimposed upon the gray mass of Skaneateles shale and 

 merging downward into it is a somewhat similar gray deposit of 

 shale which of late years has regained the original name assigned 

 it by Hall. He named it the Ludlowville shale, partly from its 

 exposure at Ludlowville, Cayuga county, partly because he 

 believed this shale was of the same age as that of Ludlow, 

 England. This name later gave place to Vanuxem's designation, 

 the Hamilton shale and has been so called until recently. It has 

 now regained Hall's designation, the Ludlowville shale. 



