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. 
