1896.] Geology and Paleontology. 211 



In a preliminary report on the Geology of Essex County, N. Y., 

 Kemp 11 describes the occurrences of the gneisses, limestones, ophi- 

 calcites, gabbros, lamprophyres and other igneous rocks of the district, 

 and gives an account of their geological relationships. 



GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



Bear River Formation.— The explorations of Mr. Stanton and 

 Mr. Charles White in the Bear River Valley have been the means of 

 correcting a long standing error among geologists concerning the taxo- 

 nomic position of strata known as the Bear River Formation. A 

 summary of the facts as presented by Mr. White in a late Bulletin 

 of the U. S. Geol. Survey shows that the formation under discussion is 

 not Laramie, to which age it has been hitherto been referred, but be- 

 longs to the Upper Cretaceous, at or near the base of that series. That 

 is its position has been determined by Mr. Stanton as beneath the 

 Colorado formation, and above that series of Jurassic strata which 

 occurs within a large part of the interior region of North America 

 generally regarded as of Upper Jurassic age and which in the general 

 section given is called " Dakota? " This accords with the reputed age 

 of a formation in Hungary, whose ft ke that of the 



Bear River series of strata than of any other known. 



Mr. White, therefore, defines the Bear River series as a distinct for- 

 mation stratigraphically, geographically, and paleontologically, and 

 states in detail its taxonomic position. All the known fossils of the 

 formation are described and figured, comparisons are made of its fauna 

 with those of other nonmarine formations of this and other continents, 

 and relevant biological questions are discussed. 



In making a general comparison of the Bear Ri?er fauna with the 

 other nonmarine fossil faunas of North America, Dr. White calls atten- 

 tion to those features of the Bear Fauna by which it differs conspic- 

 uously from all the others. Reference is here especially made to the 

 Auriculidse and Melaniid*, because it is members of these two families 

 that give the Bear River Fauna its most distinctive character. In this 

 connection the author remarks " this faunal character is all the more con- 

 spicuous because, of the six genera which represent those two families, 

 only two of them are known in any other North American fauna, 

 either fossil or recent." 



12 Keport of State Geologist [of New York] for 1893, p. 433. 



