UPPER PALEOZOIC (dEVONIC). 239 
kany at the base of the Devonian. English and European authors 
more generally follow the latter classification. 
§ 4. The Top of the Devonian. 
The determination of the top of the Devonian in America is 
beset with as much difficulty as that of its base, — but for differ- 
ent reasons. 
In the eastern border area, the Gaspe and New Brunswick 
sections, the sands and conglomerates run upward into coarse con- 
glomerates and red sandstones, which by their flora are regarded 
as the base of the Carboniferous, but there is no sharp distinction 
in lithological characters to mark a transition. In the Appala- 
chian region, north, east and southward, the transition is litho- 
logically marked by a prominent, coarse conglomerate, above 
which the flora is Carboniferous. Further west, in western Penn- 
sylvania, there is a Chemung fauna below, followed by a distinct 
invertebrate fauna, the Waverly, but when the two faunas appear 
in the same section, as for instance about Meadville, the change is 
no more marked than the passage from the Hamilton to the Che- 
mung, both members of the Devonian system. Passing further 
west, in Ohio and Michigan the Chemung fauna is wanting, and 
in matter of sequence the Waverly fauna follows the Hninilton 
fauna with its distinct black shale sub-fauna. A black shale 
appears also above the first stages of the Waverly as well as below 
it, which contains a fauna closely allied to the fauna of the lower 
Devonian black shale of New York, the Marcellus, 
In the interior continental area, the passage is direclly from the 
Hamilton (a Devonian fauna) to the Kinderhook, Waverly, or 
Burlington faunas which are recognized as marking the early 
stages of the Carboniferous system. 
In the western Nevada (Eureka) section and Arizona (Kanab), 
the upper Devonian shales and sandstones terminate with uncon- 
formity below the Carboniferous deposits, but in the Utah (Wah- 
satch) section, there is a continuous limestone (the Wahsatch 
limestone), the top of which is Carboniferous, while the bottom 
is regarded as equivalent to the Nevada limestone of the Eureka 
section. More detailed study of these western sections will doubt- 
less give greater clearness to the stages marked by the faunas, 
but the absence of coal nieasures in this western area will make 
