BE PORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST. 



437 



The preceding remarks are made without pretension of elabora- 

 tion. To establish beyond question the quantivalence of the Lower 

 Helderberg faunas will require a careful revision of its entire represen- 

 tation, not only in its typical development but wherever else equiva- 

 lents are believed to occur. Coupled with this should be a careful 

 stratigraphical study of superposition and interlamination. What has 

 been here written is intended to be only suggestive, and the inquiries 

 to which it should give rise are: 



(a) Is the normal Lower Helderberg fauna, by virtue of predomi- 

 nant Devonian characters, to be referred to the Devonian system ? 



(b) Is it the American equivalent of the European Hercynian, 

 i. e. an earliest Devonian calcareous pelagic fauna ? 



(c) Is it the pelagic fauna, of which the Oriskany Sandstone 

 includes the arenaceous facies ? 



i 



