60 



University of California Publications in Geology 



[Vol. 11 



Merriam's final conclusion was that the faunas of the Carmanah 

 Point beds and the Sooke beds were very different : 



This may be explained either by supposing the interval between the deposition 

 of the original sediments containing the Carmanah Point fauna and the depo- 

 sition of the Sooke beds to have been a very long one, allowing time for radical 

 faunal changes, or by supposing considerable topographic and climatic changes 

 to have taken place in a shorter interval, accompanied by immigration of new 

 forms. . . . The evidence at our command indicates that the Sooke beds are of 

 middle Neocene age, and that the time of their deposition was considerably later 

 than that of the Carmanah Point beds. (Op. cit., pp. 107, 108.) 



The year after the appearance of the paper just referred to, 

 Merriam published the descriptions of the following species : 22 Cytheria 

 newcombei, Cytheria vancoiiverensis, Bullia buccinmdes, Nassa new- 

 combei, Patella geometrica, and Turritella diversilineata. The last 

 species came from Carmanah Point ; the others were collected from 

 the Sooke beds. 



All the species described by Merriam from the Sooke beds were 

 figured and the descriptions republished in a short paper entitled 

 "The fauna of the Sooke beds of Vancouver Island." A complete 

 list is given in this paper of the species known at that time from the 

 Sooke beds, together with their geologic range. 23 



Professor Merriam's paper entitled "A note on the fauna of the 

 Lower Miocene in California, ' ' which appeared in 1904, 24 is of especial 

 importance in that here we find the first outline of the faunal zones 

 in the Upper Tertiary in the Contra Costa Hills of Middle California, 

 and also the first attempt to correlate the faunas of these zones with 

 those found in other parts of the state. Three distinct faunas were 

 recognized in the Contra Costa Hills below the San Pablo (Upper 

 Miocene) ; a fauna found in the sandstones immediately below this 

 latter horizon was described as follows: "The upper division has its 

 nearest affinities with the San Pablo, from which it can be distin- 

 guished by the presence of Clypeaster{?) brewerianus, Trochita cos- 

 tellata, several new species of Modiola and other forms. ' ' The fauna 

 of this division belongs to the Briones formation, which is generally 

 referred to as the Scutella breweriana zone. Below this, a distinctive 

 fauna in the shale was recognized. In the lower division of these 

 beds, below the lowest shale member, a fauna was found which Mer- 



22 Merriam, J. C, The Nautilus, vol. 11, pp. 64-65, October, 1897. 



23 Merriam, J. C, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., Geol., ser. 3, vol. 1, pp. 175-180, 

 pi. 23, figs. 1-5, 1899. 



24 Merriam, J. C, Univ. Calif. Publ., Bull. Dept. Geol., vol. 3, no. 16, pp. 377- 

 381, 1904. 



