Its thickness is usually not more than sixty feet; in the 
western part of Fabius, however, near where the excava- 
tions have been made for coal, it was considerably thicker, 
being about eighty feet thick. 
Septaria, which were found so abundantly in the Mar- 
cellus Shale, are also found in this group, although very 
sparingly. 
Fossils also are quite rare. The only trace which I 
have as yet been able to find is a small ortfzs. Several 
others, however, are known to occur in this shale. 
This group may be studied in any of the hills in the 
southern part of Fabius or Tully, in Otisco near the head 
of the lake, and in Spafford. 
A large amount of money has been spent in searching 
for coalin this mass. Its black color, together with an 
old tradition, saying that coal exists in the shale, have 
been the causes of considerable expenditures. Ina few 
instances pockets of an impure variety of coal were found, 
its only importance, however, was to increase the mania 
for coal digging. The finding of these pockets of coal has 
also been the cause of considerable speculation. One of 
the theories most frequently met with, and one which 
seems to be sincerely believed by some of the people in 
that locality is the following: ‘‘ Coal lying exposed to the 
atmospheric agencies for a considerable length of time has 
a tendency to deteriorate, or to ‘lose its virtue,’” as they 
say. According to the theory all this slaty mass was once 
pure coal, which under the conditions mentioned has be- 
come valueless, except in patches to insignificant for prof- 
itable mining. 
I did not succeed in finding any of these pockets of 
coal, but at many of the places where I stopped the peo- 
ple claimed to have seen and possessed specimens of it. 
Numerous inquiries to be shown some specimens of it al- 
46 
