Luther — Portage Sandston es. 



sandstones about ten feet above the bottom of the exposure, and a slab from 

 a layer of densely black slate immediately overlying the Layer <>f sandstone, 

 had on one surface the impression of a number of tisli scales and plates. 



The general character of the material and of the stratification of the suc- 

 ceeding 135 feet of the section in this ravine is quite uniform, though the pro- 

 portion of sandstones varies at different horizons, with a gradual increase 

 toward the top. Fossils are rarely seen. Impressions or casts of Goiiiatites 

 Pattersoni occur occasionally on the lower surface of the sandstones, and large 

 forms of Spatluocaris Emersoni are sometimes found. 



Near the knife factory, in this ravine, a sandy layer four inches thick, 

 and forty feet above the Lepidodendron layer before mentioned, has on its 

 upper surface a very interesting bed of plant remains of lignitic character, in 

 which are hundreds of specimens, some of them several feet long. The 

 majority are not in a condition to be identified, but many fragments of 

 Lepidodendron occur. The only traces of animal life so far observed in this 

 bed are two specimens of a large Orbiouloidea, species undetermined, and one 

 large Oonularia. One hundred and two feet above the plant bed, a band of 

 sandstones two feet thick, forms the crest of a cascade sixty-seven feet high, 

 known as the " Second Falls." The " First Falls " are near the knife factory 

 and are produced by the waters of a lateral ravine flowing over the side of 

 the main gully. They are about sixty feet high. Above the sandy layers at 

 the toj) of the second falls the shales and thin sandstones come in again and 

 continue a little more than sixty feet, to near the top of the "Third Falls/ 1 



In the face of the precipice at the third falls, and exposed in the walls of 

 the canyon, a thin layer of soft blue sandy shale has been found to contain 

 Cardiola retrostriata, Pleurotomaria capillaria, Pakeoneih micta, Gon iatit, % 

 Pattersoni and Baotrites, also a finely striated Cardiola, species undetermined; 

 a distinctively Portage fauna. Twenty-four feet higher, and nine feet below 

 the top of the fall, occurs a layer of bluish sandstone, four inches thick, that 

 splits easily near the middle and discloses impressions and casts of ; i consider- 

 able number of fossils. The most abundant form here is apparently Liorhyn- 

 chus quadricostaPus. Many of these are an inch in breadth. Smaller speci- 

 mens bear some resemblance to L. limitaris. A small form of Atrypa reticu- 

 laris is also abundant. An Orbicidoidea, species undetermined, is common: 

 Productella xpeciosa ' and Ambocalia toi/hoiiata var. (/regaria occur sparingly. 



This fossiliferous layer has been traced for several rods along the vertical 

 sides of the ravine, but the most diligent search ha- failed to discover this 

 fauna or any other fossils in this horizon elsewhere in the Naples \ alley. 



