REPORT OF THE STATE PALEONTOLOGIST 1902 853 



tions in Erie and Chautauqua counties. This study has in- 

 volved some questions in regard to the determination of the 

 upper boundary of the Portage formation which can be fixed 

 only on the basis of the evidence to be derived from the 

 fossils. The organisms themselves are also for the most part 

 undescribed and constitute one of the remarkable associations 

 of fossils in our older rocks. The fauna of the western New 

 York Portage or the Naples fauna has been shown to have 

 entered the State from the west and not to have penetrated far 

 beyond the meridian of Cayuga lake. Its path of migration into 

 the western boundaries of the State is evidently buried at the 

 bottom of Lake Erie; but, to determine whether any trace of the 

 fauna is to be found to the south or north of the lake, some 

 investigations were carried on in Erie county, Pa. to ascertain 

 the significance of the formations termed by the Pennsylvania 

 geologists " Portage w and " Girard shales." The Portage, it 

 has now been made evident, does not there exist, and the 

 faunistic value of the Girard shales is a matter for further 

 study. In Ontario the black shale beds at Kettle Point, Lake 

 Huron and about Sarnia, Forest and Alvinston, which have 

 been recorded as of Portage age, show no definite relations 

 to the true Naples fauna, but rather represent only the con 

 dition which prevailed during the deposition of all the black 

 muds of the Genesee and lower Portage stages. All these field 

 operations undertaken during the early part of the season were 

 greatly embarrassed by the tremendous and protracted rainfall, 

 which flooded the watercourses of the country to such a degree 

 that they became virtually inaccessible, and for some weeks it 

 was necessary to discontinue field work altogether. 



The study of the Naples fauna is now brought to virtual con- 

 clusion, and the manuscript for some portion of it is in the 

 printer's hands for a memoir of the State Museum. Brief refer- 

 ence will be made to this also under the caption of office work. 



The " Hudson river " formation and faunas of eastern New York. 

 In continuance of his previous investigations of the " Hudson 

 River " formation, accounts of which have appeared in various 

 museum bulletins and reports of the paleontologist, Dr R. Ruede- 

 mann was engaged in Rensselaer and Washington counties. 

 The construction of a tunnel for the extension of the water 



