WILLIAMS A 
Is IMH.K. 
ND ] COKKELATTON OF CATAWISSA SECTION. 83 
faunas that they would afford conclusive proof independent of red 
beds or any oilier purely physical characters. It has taken a long 
time to gather the evidence, but we are now able to prove by fossil 
evidence that the red beds, regarded as the top of the Chemung for- 
mation of this region by I. C. White, were deposited before the typical 
Chemung fauna occupied the seas of this region. 
The evidence for this conclusion is found in the appearance of the 
Ithaca fauna immediately below the lowest red beds. This Ithaca 
fauna occupies the section down to within 200 feet of the black shale 
beds of the Genesee, where the typical Nunda fauna occurs. Below 
the Genesee a typical Hamilton fauna is seen. No characteristic Che- 
mung fossils appear in the whole section at Catawissa. The successive 
appearance of the Hamilton, Genesee, lower Nunda, and Ithaca faunas, 
terminated above by red beds, demonstrates the important fact that 
the Catskill type of sedimentation began in this region before the 
Chemung epoch opened. 
Professor Hall was right in stating that the beds were of Chemung 
age so long as they carried Chemung fossils (i. e., up to 22 of the I. C. 
White section). This would, however, carry the top of the Chemung 
formation 2,700 feet higher up than it is located in the report and 
would include all of I. C. White's Chemung-Catskill and 1,700 feet 
of his Catskill. 
The present investigation has not gone far enough to positively con- 
firm this conclusion, but the evidence afforded by the fossils of the 
Catawissa section that have been critically studied makes such a con- 
clusion probable. 
The facts published in the reports regarding the range of fossils in 
the sections are in favor of the interpretation given by Professor Hall. 
Bpirifer disjunctus and other Chemung fossils were frequently 
reported above the base of the red beds. In the Fishing Creek sec- 
tion" fossils were reported 800 feet above the top of the so-called 
Chemung. In the Montour section 6 fossils were found 700 feet above 
the base of " Catskill" and 1,700 feet above the top of " Chemung." 
The Hartville section c (Luzerne County) shows Chemung fossils 150 
feet above the base of the "Catskill." 
It is evident from these reported cases that the fossils were of sec- 
ondary importance in determining the upper limit of the Chemung. 
The tirst red beds, at whatever horizon they occurred, in relation to the 
fossils, were regarded as evidence of the top of the Chemung forma- 
tion and the beginning of the Catskill series. The transition beds up 
to the first well-defined Holoptychius beds were called Chemung- 
Catskill. 
That Professor Claypole, who identified the fossils, understood the 
confusion of evidence is clear from his report on Perry County. The 
« Second Pennsylvania Geol. Survey, Kept. G 7, p. 215. blbid., p. 237. elbid., p. 196. 
