1 % 
CATSKILL DIVISION. 
Devonian fossils had been found, it became important to accumulate as many facts as 
possible which would bear upon the question ; and we were fortunate enough to discover 
the remains of fish in the strata between Prattsville and Gilboa, and, what was still more 
satisfactory was t heir association with the Cypricardia catskillensis discovered by Mr. Va- 
nuxem on the Unadilla. These fossils will undoubtedly be found quite numerous in this 
neighborhood, as we observed several specimens in the rock two miles above Prattsville, on 
the banks of the creek. It appears, therefore, that it has a wide range in this series, and 
may be regarded as characteristic of the formation in which it is found. 
Series at Jefferson. Here the rock! exhibit the same character as at Gilboa and Pratts¬ 
ville. They arc flags, some of which are quite thin, and they are interlaminated with black 
slate. At this place, near the village, we discovered the same fossils as those of Gilboa, 
namely, the Cypricardia , Tentaculites , Orthis , etc. Besides the strata of crushed vegetables 
and the diagonal stratification already mentioned, Mr. Hall has discovered a scale of the fish 
characteristic of the Old Red sandstone. In these discoveries we have the facts which have 
settled the character and age of the rocks in the southern part of Schoharie, Albany, and 
those of Greene and Delaware counties. They form one series of rocks, which may be 
traced south, southwest and west, through the southern tier of counties ; and as a few 
fossils of the Chemung narrows have been found in Gilboa, we are able to connect the 
series with distant points west. The Chemung group, which had been supposed to be 
confined to the southwestern counties, has been proved, by the discovery of fossils, to oc¬ 
cupy a place also at the base of the Catsldll series. Of the Dipleura dekayi , Microdon 
bellistriata , Cypricardia angulata , the latter is credited to Chemung narrows, while the 
two former are well known Hamilton fossils : these, with several others, occur five hun¬ 
dred feet above strata which have hitherto been regarded as belonging exclusively to the 
Catskill series. Facts of this kind may lead us to distrust the value of our lines of de- 
markation between the groups of a system. 
Agricultural characters of the Catskill series. The soil is colored red, when derived from 
the Catskill rocks. The red marls form a soil very well compounded of sand and clay : 
it derives an advantage from its color. Red soils are warmer and earlier, yet they do not 
bear drought so well as the brown and yellow loams. The soil of these rocks may be re¬ 
garded as light; and being deficient in lime and alkalies, it is not so productive at first, 
nor so durable, as those of Onondaga and Cayuga counties. 
Localities where the Catskill series may be advantageously examined. These rocks may be 
reached by two routes : 1st, that of the Mountain House or Pine Orchard ; and 2d, that of 
Schoharie creek. The Mountain House route leads over part of the Champlain, the Hei¬ 
delberg and lire Erie divisions. The Hudson-river series, and the whole of the Helderberg 
series, are finely exposed, but in an interesting state of disorder. The Erie division is tilted 
up, but not materially crushed or dismembered ; the angle of dip continually dimi¬ 
nishes from the Hamilton shales upward, each ascending terrace being disturbed less and 
less as it is distant from the belt of disturbance, passing between the Hudson river and the 
