172 The American Geologist, September, 1897 
the Lithographic beds has been made with the special object 
of discovering fossils in the seemingly unfossiliferous layers 
above the base, and of determining tlie vertical distribution 
of the organic remains. The locality selected was Louisiana, 
in Pike county, Missouri, where the exposures were unusually 
favorable, where the vertical section was complete from the 
Trenton to the upper Burlington, and where there was an 
abundance of fossils. The vertical section and the exposures 
are so extensive for a single locality that the facilities for 
determining the exact range of the various faunal zones stand 
unrivalled in the whole region. Moreover, a key to the strat- 
igraphy of the entire province is furnished. Owing to usually 
favorable opportunities afforded by the extensive fossil col- 
lections of Mr. R. R. Rowley and the supplementary special 
tield work the results are very complete. The determination 
of the faunal zone and their most important relationships as 
bearing upon the stratigrapliy of the region are therefore of 
great interest. 
In considering the faunal features of the succession the 
chief interest centers in the nature of the fauna of the Kin- 
derhof)k as a whole, and of each of its several parts. The 
three most prominent considei-ations are: (1) The general 
facies of the fauna in its entirety, and the elements giving it 
its predominant features, ('2) the character and genetic rela- 
tions to the basal fauna, and (3) the upper limit, if any can 
be made out, of the fauna most characteristic of the forma- 
tion. 
First. Heretofore the attempt has been made always to treat 
the organic remains contained in the "Kinderhook," "Chou- 
teau," or the "Chemung" as constituting a single fauna. 
Owing to the heterogeneous beds that have been placed to- 
gether it has been the chief mission of later work to take out 
from time to time the various incongruous parts which were 
originally correlated with this formation. Thus gradually at 
its typical localities the terrane has finally come to be more 
clearly understood. 
The fauna contained in the "Kinderhook" when deprived of 
the elements which are in reality wholly foreign, presents a 
very different facies from that generally ascribed to it. With 
the light of definite zonal distribution of the fossils there ap- 
