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 byrytes and 

 stroniia, 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. MacCulioch, 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. 



