100 



UPPER SECONDARY ROCKS. 



ery of a vertebral animal several feet long,* imbed- 

 ded in this rock eighteen feet beneath its surface. 

 2.> The occurrence in it of fossil fish, similar to 

 those obtained from the new red sandstone of Ger- 

 many. 3. From its containing veins of copper ore, 

 as in England ; also the sulphates of barytes and 

 strontia, as in England. 4. From the occurrence 

 in it of bituminous marlite and fetid limestone, as 

 in Germany, and also from its variegated -charac- 

 ter, causing it to resemble that from Nova Scotia 

 so closely as not to be distinguished from it. In- 

 deed, it corresponds in its appearance to the beds of 

 it in Scotland described by Dr. MacCulloch, who 

 represents them to be sometimes of a conglomerate 

 structure, at others a fine sandstone, and occa- 

 sionally schistose ; and " in composition," he re- 

 marks, " the rock is calcareous, argillaceous, or 

 ferruginous, or all together, presenting endless va- 

 rieties of aspect and colour." The sandstone of 

 the Connecticut Valley contains more or less lime, 

 effervescing with acids, and therefore might prop- 

 erly be called a red marl. The limestone associ- 

 ated with it is highly fetid, sometimes bituminous. 

 There is one circumstance, which has been thought 

 conclusive, against the opinion that the rock in 

 question belongs to the new* red sandstone ; that is, 

 that this formation is deficient in gypsum and rock- 

 salt, which are universally found in the new red 

 sandstones of Europe. But it is not a fact that no 

 gypsum is found in it; as masses of this mineral 

 are occasionally met with, and as the rock has not 

 yet been extensively explored, no one can posi- 

 tively say that it does not contain both gypsum 

 and salt. We believe that it does ; at any rate, we 

 should like to set Mr. Disbrow to bore some 800 

 feet below the bed of the Connecticut, to see what 



* No vertebral animal has ever been found below the new 

 red sandstone, except those formerly mentioned in the Stones- 

 field slate. 



