CORNIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 
141 
rally fourfold from the apex : three views ; size natural. There is another, and a handsome 
orthis in this rock, which resembles a delthyris (0. delthyroidea). 
No. 5. Atrypa prisca : It resembles the A. affinis, but the imbrications upon the surface 
are not so numerous, nor are the edges turned up as in the surface of that species. 
The Pectenform avicula (A. pecteniformis) belongs to this rock, but it is not a common 
fossil: there is a specimen in the State collection. 
No. 6. Linear strophomena (S. lineata). This is the small fossil so abundant in the upper 
part of this rock, which has heretofore been known by the name of Seneca limestone. 
The fish-bone, No. 7 of the wood-cut, is a fragment found at the falls of Perryville. Its 
form resembles the one noticed in the subsequent pages of this work, as having been found 
in Seneca county. It is figured, because of the great interest which should attach to every 
apparition of the kind in this earth, which is our inheritance, and which we ought to compre¬ 
hend aright, but can not without a knowledge of all its facts. 
The corniferous limestone is at its maximum thickness in the village of Cherry-Valley, 
where it is probably from sixty to eighty feet thick. It rests upon the Onondaga limestone, 
showing two or three distinct terraces, which extend through the village, their edges ranging 
with the valley, and their surfaces sloping with it to the south. 
Back of the Lancaster school-house, the rock is uncovered for many acres, showing to 
great advantage its fine regular slope or dip, and its water-worn surface ; its joints being open 
from wear and solution, like those of the Onondaga at the head of the valley ; exhibiting 
ample proof of the sojourn of water at that height, for a considerable period. Its terraces, 
ranging with the valley, show a gradual or rather a periodical narrowing of the valley from 
that point to the Onondaga at the bottom; the surface of which, being now dry, shows the 
total drainage of the valley. The layers containing flint are below the upper exposed surface ; 
they may be seen in the quarry back of the house, formerly occupied by Judge Beardsley. 
The quarry shows the regular wall-like appearance common to this rock where the flint exists, 
the joints of the rock being straight and smooth. 
To the north of the village, the rock is also quarried, the layers being thinner, and suitable 
for flagging. 
The directions of the vertical joints were taken at several points, showing N. 20° to 22 i° 
E. for one sett, and south of east for the other, the precise degree not noted, but to the eye 
were considered to be nearly at a right angle. 
Along the road to Springfield, and to the south of Grout’s quarry on the Cooperstown road, 
the rock occurs with the same well defined joints, the upper with flint. At Grout’s the direc¬ 
tions of the joints were N. 22^° E., and S. 57^° E. The surface of the limestone containing 
flint, is well exposed along the side-hill by quarrying; often showing ramose forms, highly 
imitative of those of vegetable life. 
Through Warren, Columbia and Litchfield, in Herkimer county, quarries and small exca¬ 
vations appear, and with the same characters. 
In Oneida county, it is quarried on the east side of Bridgewater valley, the ridge rising 
above the valley and forming its side. The corniferous forms the upper rock at Green’s 
