dilleb.] MARINE DEPOSITS NEAR EEL RIVER. 37 
abundant toward the base, and the sandiness of the beautifully strati- 
lied series increases somewhat upward to a heavy conglomerate which 
appears to correspond to those observed on the road a short distance 
south of Ferndale. The thickness of the strata in the Wildcat series 
beneath the conglomerate in the Rio Dell section appears to be less 
than that at Ferndale, but measurements were not made to determine 
the difference. Overlying the conglomerate is a heavy mass of sand- 
stone which forms a bluff below the mouth of Price Creek. Conglom- 
erate with sandstones occurs beyond this at Alton, forming the bluff 
of College Hill, and dips gently to the northeast. The form of the ter- 
races in that region, on the road from Rohnville to Hydesville, sug- 
gests faulting. These soft beds extend up the Van Deuzen most of 
the way toward Bridgeville before rising above the river to the hills 
and exposing the older rocks in the river banks. Upon the hills they 
extend much farther east, for at Bridgeville fossiliferous fragments 
are found in the river bed and along the stage road 4 miles farther 
south, near Burr Creek, at an elevation of 1,350 feet, within a few 
feet of the underlying Mesozoic rocks. The beds are composed chiefly 
of sand and appear to dip gently westward. They are probably near 
the eastern limit of the formation as now exposed, and correspond, at 
least in that respect, to the Wymer beds farther north. The fossils 
collected at these two localities in 1889 and also in 1900 were all 
determined as Miocene species. On the Bridgeville stage road no 
fossils were seen south of Burr Creek, but above Dyerville a few 
miles, on Eel River, they occur, and also at many points throughout 
the long valley of the South Fork of Eel River. 
An extensive collection of fossils was made along Eel River from 
Scotia to the mouth of the Van Deuzen, and those from the various 
localities were kept separate, so that the paleontologist might have 
some basis for recognizing differences in horizons. Care was taken 
to collect only material in place. The fossils collected by Professor 
Lawson from the Ferndale and Rio Dell sections were identified 
by Prof. John C. Merriam, and the age of the Wildcat series, on a 
percentage basis of living and extinct species, was determined to be 
Pliocene. Considering this subject in his report on the fossils which 
my party collected in 1900, Dr. Dall remarks: 
The problem as to their age is not easily settled, and a few explanatory remarks 
may be useful. The standard Miocene fauna of the Pacific coast is that known 
as the horizon of the Astoria or Empire beds of Coos Bay. We have a good series, 
the result of many years' collecting at Coos Bay by an amateur. While many of 
these are new or undescribed, the possession of the series and a careful stratigraphi- 
cal section of the rocks from which they came leaves no doubt (1) of their position 
with regard to the Eocene and Oligocene, and (2) of the chief constituents of the 
fauna. By comparison it is easy to see whether the same species occur in any other 
series of fossils sent in for examination, without reference to what the proper names 
of the particular species may be. 
On the other hand, the only strictly defined Calif ornian marine Pliocene fauna 
which has been recorded is that of San Diego, in the southern part of the State. 
