Hardy-Williams Library 
 
 OB" THE QXOLOOIOAL 
 
 HISTORY OF ORGANISMS 
 
 FOUNBED BY 
 
 Charles Elias Hardy 
 
 IJTIXiT 27, 17BB JTTLX 7, 186BJ 
 
 No.. 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 080 863 925 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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Tli E 
 
 PALJONTOLOGICAL REPORT 
 
 S. S. LYON, E. T. COX, AND LEO. LESQUEREUX, 
 
 AS PREPARED FOR THE 
 
 GEOLOGICAL REPORT OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 PUBLISHED IN VOL. 3 
 
 FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY. 
 
 A. G. HODGES, PUBLIC PRINTER 
 1857. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PALEONTOLOGY. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF NEW SPECIES OF ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 During the progress of the Geological Survey of the State, many 
 new and interesting fossil forms have been discovered, which, with 
 those previously in the possession of the members of the geological 
 corps, of new and undescribed genera and species would, were they all 
 described and figured, make an extensive and valuable addition to the 
 science of Palaeontology. A few only of those most characteristic or 
 remarkable, for the present publication, have been selected. They form 
 but a small part of those deemed worthy of being carefully studied 
 and described. 
 
 The < sub-carboniferous limestone, the Coal Measures, and the tran- 
 sition beds of intercalated limestone near the base of the millstone 
 grit, of western Kentucky, abounds in fossils of remarkable and beau- 
 tiful forms. The living inhabitants and the dead individuals of those 
 ancient seas, both contributed, with the wasted materials of the subja- 
 cent lands, to the formation of the sedimentary strata then in process 
 of deposition which now serve as a guide to the student of Stratigraph- 
 ical Geology, pointing out with certainty the period and geological po- 
 sition of rocky beds wherever found, and with great certainty indicat- 
 ing equivalent geological measures, which, but for these truthful histo- 
 ries of the past, would never be recognized as of the same age — one 
 district presenting rocky masses, which in another are entirely changed 
 in physical appearance and chemical composition. 
 
 In Crittenden county the sandstone of the millstone grit and asso- 
 ciated limestones have a great thickness downward, from the produc- 
 tive Coal Measures, to the principal mass of the sub-carboniferous lime- 
 stone on which it rests. 
 
 At the distance of two hundred feet above the base of this mass of 
 sandstone is to be found a bed of earthy, calcareous, and shaley mate- 
 rials, one hundred and fifty feet thick. The lowest sixty feet of this 
 intercalated bed, is of a drab color, filled, with innumerable fragments of 
 
468 PALEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Re.tepe.ra Archimedes, spread out horizontally, and almost -constituting 
 the entire mass. Further from the base of the bed are found segre- 
 gations, broken and irregular bands and patches of earthy ferruginous 
 limestone. This alternation of limestones and shale beds continues to 
 the top of the mass. 
 
 It is 1 from the segregated masses, at the top of the first sixty feet of 
 this intercalated calcareous bed, that some of the fossil forms selected 
 for description were obtained ; and, so far as it is at present known, cer- 
 tain remarkable forms of this bed have never been found extending ei- 
 ther above or below its geological horizon. 
 
 The vertical range of the first organic form which will be described 
 is not more than five or six feet. Two crashed specimens were found 
 in 1845; others, again, in 1852. Having recently obtained some 
 quite perfect specimens, it is proposed to describe them under the 
 name of Pentremites obesus. 
 
 CMNOIDEA. 
 
 GENUS PENTREMITES. Say. 
 
 In the year 1820 the genus Pentremites was proposed by Mr. 
 Thomas Say* in which were placed certain fossil forms, then, for the 
 first time, described. Since the erection of the genus it has been gen- 
 erally recognized, and many species have been added by different au- 
 thors. One of the latest authorities, Messrs. De Koninck and Le Hon, 
 state the genus under the following formula, viz: 
 Basal pieces, 3, one less than the two others. 
 
 Radial pieces, lX^, forked, large. 
 Interradial, 1X5, small lanceolate. 
 
 Pseudambulacrse, 1x5, 
 Mouth, 1, central. 
 
 Anal, 1, lateral. 
 
 Ovarial openings, 2X-5, situated around the mouth. 
 
 By a careful examination of well preserved specimens, (not silicifi- 
 ed,) of the different species of this genus, including the typical spe- 
 cies, upon which the genus was founded, it may be seen that the formu- 
 la above quoted should be amended. Pentremiies floreaiisjglobosiis, py- 
 
 •See vol. ii, Si!!iman'8 Journal) p. 36, and American Journal of Science and Arte, vol. 3. 
 
PAL.B0NT0LOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 469 
 
 riformis, and others, have severally three small plates or pieces, dis- 
 tinctly separated from the pieces heretofore designated as the "Basal 
 pieces;'''' these three pieces form the base of the cup, and as they lie be- 
 low the pieces heretofore recognized as basal, are true basal pieces, and 
 the others necessarily become first radials. It is therefore proposed to 
 amend the generic description, and the following formula is offered : 
 GENUS PENTREMITES. Say. 
 Generic Formula: 
 Basal pieces, lX-3? short, broad, and nearly of equal size. 
 
 First radial pieces, lX^? two hexagonal, perfect; one pentagonal, 
 
 and imperfect. 
 Second radial pecies, 1x5, nearly of equal size, long, forked. 
 Interradial pieces, 1X5? small, lanceolate, nearly equal in size. 
 Pseudambulacrse, 1X&? l° n g? filling the forked pieces, and ter- 
 
 minating around the mouth. 
 Mouth, 1, central. 
 
 Ovarial openings, 2x5, situated around the mouth. 
 
 Column, cylindrical, perforated, segments luaeq size and thickness. 
 
 PENTREMITES OBESUS. Lyon. 
 (Plato II. fig. I, la, lb, Ic, 1 d.) 
 
 Body, elliptical half its heighth, rounded at the summit; the lower 
 part has the form of a broad inverted cone; the diameter is to the 
 heighth as 4 is to 5, (nearly.) Basal pieces, of equal size, sub-quad- 
 rangular, of similar form, low, broad ; sides diverging upwards from 
 the columnar articulation; greatest heighth at the line of junction 
 with each other; irregularly concave, upper margin, into which the 
 first radials are fitted, regularly concave at their junction with the 
 column ; when joined, they form a low cup, concave at the base, the 
 upper margin forming an unequal sided triangle. 
 
 First radials two, of equal size, hexagonal ; the third pentagonal, 
 and a little larger than half the size of the hexagonal pieces; this 
 unequal piece probably indicates the anal side of the pentremite ; 
 the three pieces, when joined, present a broad shallow cup, the superior 
 margin of which is marked by five broad angular points, between which 
 are three angular, and two irregular, concave depressions, the latter 
 being upon the summits of the hexagonal pieces. 
 
470 PAL,<EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVET- 
 
 Second radials five, divided two-thirds their length, swelling rapidly 
 from their junction with the first radials to the inferior end of the pseud- 
 ambulacral fields ; twice as long as wide, the branches increasing in 
 width from their junction with the interradials toward the base; ob- 
 liquely truncated above, the truncation being by a sigmoid line, (not 
 straight as is usually the case,) meeting and fitting upon the inter- 
 radials by a lap, being beveled from within, the beveled surface being 
 about three times as long as the thickness of the pieces ; abutting 
 squarely at their lateral margins against each other, two resting upon 
 the complete hexagonal fist radials, and the other three resting upon 
 the beveled sides and in the notches formed by the junction of the first 
 radials ; the line of j unction of the sides occupies the center of a deep . 
 elliptical grove. 
 
 IntcrradUd pieces five, half as broad as long, (externally ;) angular- 
 ly pointed above, and roundly pointed below ; f as long as the second 
 radials ; within the body they are prolonged, and extended under the 
 second radials, and terminate in a long point on either side, forming 
 part of the wall of the pseudambulacral areas ; the centre is also ex- 
 tended downwards and pointed, laping uuder the suture, marking the 
 junction of the second radial pieces. 
 
 The interradials are marked by fine striae, (lines of increment,) 
 which conform to the external form of the piece in its different stages 
 of growth. 
 
 The first and second radials are also marked by lines of increment. 
 In the first radials the lines conform to the sides and upper margins of 
 the.pieces; the second radials are marked with lines extending entirely 
 around them, excspt around the margin of the fork, into which are 
 inserted the pseudambulacral fields. All the pieces are divested of the 
 epidermis and muscular coat. The trite' external markings are un- 
 known. 
 
 Pseudambulacral areas extend from the mouth, at the centre of the 
 summit* a little below the centre of the length of the body, gradually 
 increasing in width by a curved line on either side from below up- 
 wards, to the centre, when they diminish in width until they reach the 
 summit, th«y are composed of a double row of thin plates, about- 
 twelve times as long as thick, aboujb: as; broad as long, joined, together 
 by their broad laces, terminafciflg ai, the centre margiiurf! the fields at a 
 
FALiEOXrOLOGtOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 471 
 
 foramen which divides these pieces ; the divided sides of the foramen 
 pieces diverge slightly, and join a similar diverging side from an ad- 
 joining foramen piece, with which it unites and forms a ridge, which 
 continues to the margin of the field to which they are joined. The 
 field is diyided longitudinally in the centre, by a deep groove, the fora- 
 men pieces are marked by a slight groove, which crosses them near the 
 centre of their length, and runs the whole length, dividing the field 
 into four bands. Where "the foramen pieees are crossed by this slight 
 groove, they are frequently indented by a furrow, which sometimes con- 
 tinues the whole length of the pieces ; it is frequently neaiiy oblitera- 
 ted, and then presents a rounded, oval, or lozenge shaped dent or hole. 
 These marks have the appearance of the imperfectly closed sides of two 
 pieces having grown together. At one state of their growth they 
 were, probably, in separate pieces. In the best preserved speci- 
 mens the broad faces are seen to be furrowed or grooved transversely ; 
 the ends of these grooves are seen presenting small puncture?, while the 
 sides of the grooves present a double row of little knobs, standing op- 
 posite each other, and joining the two adjacent pieces, which touch 
 each other at these l'idges. The ends of the foramen pieces abutting 
 against the centre furrow of the field, are flattened and rounded, the 
 rounding on the inferior side of the piece being greatest. The flatten- 
 ed ends are ornamented by eight or ten diverging ribs, forming on the 
 ends of the pieces a series of beautiful fan-like ornaments, each slight- 
 ly concave. The foramen pieces number from sixty to seventy to the 
 inch — one specimen having one hnndred and fifty on each side of the 
 field ; another (young,) having only forty-three, or eighty-six in each 
 pseudambulacral space. 
 
 Mouth. The mouth is irregularly rounded, small externally, increas- 
 ing in size a_s the opening passes downward into the body ; it is form- 
 ed of five pieces, lying immediately within the ovarial openings ; it 
 was, doubtless, capable of being opened and largely expanded, by the 
 opening of the five petal-like parts into which the body is divided. 
 There is a deep indentation opposite to, and lying between, the lower' 
 ends of the pseudambulacral fields; this indentation piobably marks 
 the limit of the flexibility of the petals. 
 
 Ovarial openings five, nearly round ; one much larger th ■ i the oth- 
 ers ; the large opening on the point nearly opposite the i aperfeet 
 
472 PALjEONTOLOGUGAL report of geological survey.. 
 
 first radial, Column cylindrical, formed of pieces of equal thiekness, 
 articulating by radiated surfaces, the rays covering the entire surface ; . 
 perforated ; opening small ; pentelobate ; side arms at irregular inter- 
 vals, frequently opposite each other, formed of similar piecesto the 
 column. 
 
 This species differs from all others heretofore described, being much 
 larger; the whole character is coarse and strong ; the pieces are re- 
 markably thick — in the young, of a similar sized specimen, being 
 twice the thickness of any known species. The general form is near- 
 est that of P. floreales. Say. 
 
 Length of specimen under description, - - 2. 1 ^ 5 - 5 - inches. 
 
 Breadth of specimen under description, - ~- ^.-j^ inches. 
 
 Vertical circumference, .... Q-y^\ inches. 
 
 Transverse circumference, .... 6.^7 inches. 
 
 In the largest specimen observed, the pseudambulacral field is l. T Vo 
 inches; that of our specimen is l. T Vo inches; length of smallest spe- 
 cimen, one inch; the field of this specimen is yi^, (half an inch.) 
 
 The pieces forming the pseudambulacral areas, are thiner than those 
 of the glolosus or pyriformis, (small species.) 
 
 GENUS ASTEROCRINUS. Lyon. 
 
 Gen. char. — Column, cylindrical, perforated; base, bilobate; prima- 
 ry radialsfive; secondary radials, first series, ten; second series, twen- 
 ty; lobe pieces, five; arms twenty,, formed of a double row of joints. 
 
 ASTEROCRINUS CAPITALIS. Lyon. 
 (Plate III. fig. 1, 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, 1 d, 1 e, If, l g , lh.li, Ik.) 
 
 Specific description. — Body, viewed from above, presents somewhat 
 the form of an irregular five-pointed star*; viewed in profile, erect it 
 has much the form of a Corinthian capital, slightly contracted near its 
 base. 
 
 Column, cylindrical, composed of numerous, unequal-sized, thin, cir- 
 cular pieces. The articulating facets are striated around their mar- 
 gins—the eleva^d ridges of one joint fitting into corresponding 
 depressions in those which adjoin it. At a short distance from the body 
 these pieces are arranged into the column in sets of three, between two 
 
 •The spee'mec figured, is slightly crushed, therefore the star-like figure is not so remarkable. 
 
PALSE')NT0L9&IJAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 473 
 
 quite thick pieces, those adjoining the thick pieces are quite thin, with 
 one much thicker between ; nearer the body the pieces are alternately 
 larger and smaller; their edges are slightly rounded. 
 
 Basal pieces, two of equal size, nearly alike ; united they form a 
 shallow elliptical cup, the upper margin being indented by four concave 
 and two angular notches, swelling below the margin of the cup. The 
 inferior surface presents an imperfect elliptical depression, in'the centre 
 of which lies a deep circular pit, concave at the bottom ; the outer mar- 
 gin of which is marked around its circumference by grooves and ridges, 
 by which it is joined to the column. 
 
 Primary radials five, differing in form ; the piece opposite the anal 
 side is slightly concave on the upper margin ; the ends are nearly par- 
 allel to each other ; twice as broad as high ; the inferior margin is an- 
 gularly pointed — the point being about the centre of the width of the 
 piece, at which point it is twiee as high as at the ends. The four other 
 primary radials are convex below, and fit into the concave indentations 
 of the basal pieces ; they are low and broad ; not quite as high as the 
 first pieces ; two are concave above, the lower and upper margins being 
 nearly parallel ; the other two have two concave depressions above, of 
 unequal size ; the ends of the four pieces are obliquely diverging from 
 below upwards — the ends joining the anal piece having the greatest 
 divergency. 
 
 Secondary radials. These are in two series, the first consisting of 
 ten pieces, no two of which are alike ; those resting on the first radial 
 opposite the anal side are convex below ; as broad as high, the upper 
 margin of each having two concave indentations ; the junction of these 
 pieces with each other is square, the opposite ends terminating in an 
 angular point. The secondary radial pieces resting upon the first 
 radial piece, to the right of the anal piece, are terminated at both ends 
 by angular points ; from one of these rise three secondary radials of 
 the second series ; from the other, only one. 
 
 The next secondary radials to the right are, probably, broken, and in 
 our specimen are represented by four quadrangular pieces of unequal 
 size. The other four pieces are nearly of equal size, sub-quadrangular ; 
 twice as broad as high, having two concave notches in the upper mar- 
 gin of each. 
 
 Secondary radials. The secondary radials are twenty in number ; 
 60 
 
474 PAL-£)NT0LO9ICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 nearly equal in size ; sub-quadrangular ; as broad as high. From 
 each of these the arm takes its origin. 
 
 Anal piece. Lozenge shaped; small; .rising from the smallest angu- 
 lar depression in the basal pieces. 
 
 Lobe pieces. These remarkable appendages are five in number; un- 
 equal iusize; thick, rounded, and club-like; twice as broad as thick at 
 the superior extremity, tapering downward, and ending in a broad fan- 
 like manner, at the inferior extremity. They are divided into three un- 
 equal parts, the union of the parts being marked by sutures; the up- 
 per part not unlike a seed vessel, (when first discovered by the coun- 
 try-people these parts were supposed to be petrified seeds, and were call- 
 ed "petrified coffee-nuts;") it is more than one-third the length of the 
 whole lobe piece; with the middle piece it makes two-thirds the length; 
 the lower part is irregularly serrated, and marked by the impression of 
 muscular attachments; it fits into and is attached to the inside of the 
 basal pieces. 
 
 Arms. Our species has twenty arms, in sets of four, rising from the 
 second series of secondary radials; they are composed of a double se- 
 ries of joints, beautifully articulating with each other — the salient an- 
 gles of one set filling the re-entering angles of the adjoining set; the 
 arms are regularly tapering from their insertion to the end, where they 
 terminate in a point, rising about one-fourth their length above the 
 highest point of the lobe pieces; each set is separated into pairs by 
 the lobe pieces, which embrace them on either side. It is not certainly 
 known that the arms are provided with cillia. 
 
 This remarkable crinoid is found in the lower intercalated calcareous 
 beds of the millstone grit of Crittenden county, associated with Pentre- 
 mites obesus, <$rc. The vertical range -of this species is somewhat great- 
 er than that of that fossil. It was very abundant; immense numbers of 
 the fragments of the lobed pieces are found, especially of that part form- 
 ing its upper extremity. It is evident that they were easily separated, 
 for amongst the multitude of fragments only one specimen has been 
 found sufficiently perfect to show the arrangement of the parts compos- 
 ing it; this is slightly flattened by pressure, and is so much weather- 
 ed that no surface markings can be discovered. By the fragments of 
 the lobe pieces the lower intercalated limestone of the millstone grit 
 may be identified. 
 
PAL3B0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 475 
 
 1 - 2 - 5 - 
 
 -"-'10 
 
 inches. 
 
 1 5 5 
 
 •*-• J 
 
 inches. 
 
 7 5 
 '10 
 
 inch. 
 
 8 5 
 • 1 
 
 inch. 
 
 4 
 ' 1 
 
 inch. 
 
 1 5 
 • 1 
 
 inch. 
 
 2 5 
 • 1 
 
 inch. 
 
 6 
 "10 
 
 inch. 
 
 4 
 •inn 
 
 inch. 
 
 Its proportions are as follows : 
 
 Heighth, - • 
 
 Greatest breadth across the lobe pieces, ' - 
 Greatest breadth at the top of calyx — narrow 
 
 side, 
 
 Greatest breadth at the top of calyx — wide 
 
 side, 
 
 Heighth of calyx, - 
 Heighth of radials, - \ - 
 Heighth of basal pieces, - 
 
 Long diameter of basal pieces, - 
 Short diameter of basal pieces, - 
 
 The genus Asterocrinus, by its lobed basal pieces, is allied to Dicho- 
 cririus, also by the number of its primary r.idials Here the analogy 
 ceases. Dichocrinus partakes much of the character of the Platycri- 
 nites. The primary radials are generally longer, and the calyx high ; 
 the radials of all known species of Dichocrinus are higher than the 
 basal pieces, while in Asterocritius the breadth of the radials are equal 
 to twice their hight. In the remarkable lobe pieces it is distinguished 
 and separated from all known genera. It is evident the species under 
 consideration had no vaulted covering to the stomach, as the lobe pieces 
 rise from the basal pieces, (to which they are attached,) and nearly 
 fill the cavity of the body. The lobe pieces are free, except at the 
 point of attachment at the base, were expansile, and are indeed'aux- 
 iliaries of the arms, probably serving in part to sieze and crush its food. 
 Fixed to the base by a muscular ligament, articulating by joints, they 
 were evidently capable of opening with, or even independently of the 
 arms. Our specimen is closed ; the arms are folded between the lobe 
 pieces. Six half sets of the arms have their entire length, and are 
 folded toward the centre of the summit, which they do not reach, leav- 
 ing the junctures of the lobe pieces exposed. 
 
 In a paper read before the Academy of Sciences, at St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri, in 1857, our specimen is referred to, and classed with Dichocri- 
 nus; vie differ from the author of tbat paper, and hold that our species 
 is essentially different, and should be separated from Dichocrinus. 
 
476 PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ASTEROCRINUS ( ? ) CORONARIUS. Lyon. 
 (Plate I. fig. 1, 1 a.) 
 
 It is with a considerable hesitation that this remarkable and hither- 
 to unknown fossil is refered to Asterocrinus, as it has neither basal, 
 radial, or arm pieces. This unique- crinoidal fragment was found, with 
 others, associated with Pentremites obesus, Asterocrinus capitalis, - &c, 
 in the lower intercalated calcareous bed. of the millstone grit of Critten- 
 den county. This specimen is evidently the summit and part of the 
 abdominal cavity and walls of a crinoid, and is prov isionally refer- 
 red to Asterocrinus, which it greatly resembles, by the arrangement of 
 the tumid star-like points; seen in profile it resembles a ducal coronet 
 or crown. The body is pentagonal, having equal sides ; the angular 
 corners are removed ; an angular notch is provided, into which three 
 of the point pieces are inserted into the body. The point on the right 
 of the oral opening is joined to the body by an irregular line, nearly 
 straight ; that on the left is joined by a curved line, with an angular 
 deflection near the side farthest from the mouth. The marginal bor- 
 ders of the pointed pieces are raised, and the pieces are fluted about 
 two-thirds their length ; they are thick, heavy, and solid ; curved on 
 the lower side, and when resting upon the upper surface, present the 
 appearance of a thick last, from the instep to the toe. Within the 
 pointed pieces are arranged twenty-five polygonal pieces — those imme- 
 diately surrounding the mouth are convex, the others are concave ; the 
 outer series are larger ; two are hexagonal ; the others are imperfect 
 rhombs ; those within the point to the right of the mouth are small 
 and long; the others are still smaller, of pentagonal, hexagonal, and 
 triangular forms. A few of the small pieces surrounding the oral open- 
 ing have been lost. 
 
 Mouth, sub-central. 
 
 Lower surface. Between the pointed pieces are three angular-prom- 
 inences, and four angular depressions ; these are probably the articula- 
 ting surfaces to which the lower part of the body and calyx were join- 
 ed; above these notches and prominences, and on the surface between 
 the pointed pieces are rounded and grooved impressions, probably pro- 
 duced by the pressure of the arms (?) No surface markings are found 
 on the specimen, which has evidently lost its dermal covering ; they 
 would have been lost had they existed upon it. 
 
PALiEONTOLOGIOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 477 
 
 She of the specimen. Length of the pointed pieces, (the longest 
 
 ece 5 ) -to\ inch. 
 
 Length of the pointed pieces, (shortest piece,) - . T Vo m °b- 
 
 Longest diameter across the points, - - I.-5 
 
 Longest diameter of body, upper side, - - .-yW inch. 
 Longest diameter of body, lower side, - - . T Vo inc h- 
 
 Height of body to junction of pointed pieces, - .-^ inch. 
 Height of body to highest point of pointed pieces, .^\ inch. 
 From mouth to nearest side, .... .^jl 
 From mouth to most distant side, - .^\ 
 
 inches. 
 
 inch, 
 nch. 
 
 GENUS GRAPHIOCRINUS. De Koninck and LeHon. 
 
 De Koninck and LeHon, who established this genus, have given 
 the generic formula as follows, viz : 
 *Basal pieces, 5. 
 
 Radial pieces, 2X^. 
 
 Anal pieces, 1. 
 
 Interradial pieces, 0. 
 Arms, 10, not divided. 
 
 GRAPHIOCRINUS— 14 BRACHIALIS. Lyon. 
 
 (Plate I. fig. 1, 2 a, 26.) 
 
 The anatomical structure of our species corresponds so nearly to this 
 genus that it is confidently referred to it. 
 
 Column. A short piece of the column, still attached to our speci- 
 men, is composed of thin circular pieces, rounded on the margin, dif- 
 fering considerably in size — alternately a larger and smaller one ; 
 perforated ; the form of the perforation cannot be distinctly made out. 
 
 Basal- pieces five; long lanceolate ; thick at the outer point; divided 
 by deep well defined sutures, from the inferior point of the primary 
 radials, to the opening of the columnar-pit, where the pieces join evenly 
 together; the superior points curved upwards, from the columns out- 
 ward; the pieces are grooved by a broad concave furrrow, which termi- 
 
 *From the figure given by De Koninck and LeHon, I have much doubt if these are the true 
 basal pieces. Species of kindred form are found with fine basal pieces within the columnar de- 
 pression; these are generally covered by the column ; always alternating with the basal pie- 
 ces, as recognized in the above formula. There are another class of crinoids having a pen- 
 tagonal basal piece, not indented, divided by five sutures running from the columnar pit to the 
 centre of the shies, forming the pentagon. Zed&iniies Ma^lidfbrnU—Trodst, Is thus distil** 
 
478 PAL,E)NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 nates at the commencement of the upward curvature of the points of 
 the pieces. The piece to the right of the anal pieces is larger than the- 
 others, and the first primary radial rises from its truncated point; in 
 this respect the drawing is imperfect — the side toward the anal pieces 
 should be more elevated. The surface of all the pieces is smooth. 
 
 Primary radials five; somewhat heart-shaped; concave above, round- 
 ly pointed below ; the pieces on either side of the anal pieces are not 
 symetrical — the side of the left hand one having lost a portion of its 
 edge, against which rests one of the anal pieces, while that on the right 
 side has lost a portion of its inferior left margin, which joins the largest 
 anal piece. 
 
 The primary radials of the second series* are five in number; sub- 
 quadrangular; width, equal twice the greatest heighth ; differing in form 
 and size ; sides square and vertical ; swelling rapidly from the sides 
 toward the center ; curved upwards on the superior margin, and termi- 
 nating in a rounded prominent knob ? at or near the center of the 
 pieces. 
 
 Secondary radials {axilary, Miller,) ten; four are larger than the 
 others; similar in form to the primary radials of the first series invert- 
 ed; boldly prominent, each supporting two secondary radials of the 
 second series; the six others differ in form, and are less than half the 
 size of the first four, each supporting a single piece of the secondary 
 radials; slightly prominent., 
 
 Secondary radials, second series, consists of fourteen subquadrangu- 
 lar pieces, differing slightly in size; less prominent than the first series, 
 from which the arms take their origin. 
 
 Arms fourteen, composed of a double row of pieces, slightly rounded* 
 fitting deeply into each other — the salient angles of the right hand row 
 entering the retreating angles of the opposite row. 
 
 Remarks. — Our specimen has been slightly crushed; the superior 
 ends of the arms are broken off; the calyx is remarkable for the depth 
 of the columnar depression, and the prominence of the rounded knobed 
 terminations of the pieces forming it, also, in having fourteen arms — - 
 the typical form of the genus having only ten. It was found in the 
 calcareous beds, near the base of the millstone grit of Crittenden coun- 
 
 * The primary radiala of the second serie3 are here equivalent to the scapular pieces of Mil- 
 ler, corresponding to the scapular pieces of Encrinites moniliformis. 
 
PA1M30NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 479 
 
 ty, associated with P. obesus, Asterocrinus capitalis, A. coronarius, &c. 
 Ranging rather higher in the bed than either of the others. The verti- 
 cal range is not known. It has not, so far as we are informed, been 
 discovered in any other geological horizon. 
 
 A CTINO CRINUS. Miller. 
 
 This genus was established by Miller in 1821, and was defined as 
 follows: 
 
 "A crinoid animal, with a round column, perforated by a round ali- 
 mentary canal. At the summit of the column is placed a pelvis, formed 
 of three plates, on which five costals, and one irregular, adhere; which 
 are succeeded by the' second costals and intercostals, and the scapulae, 
 from whence five arms proceed, forming two hands, with several tentac- 
 culated fingers. 
 
 Bound side-arms proceed at irregular distances from the column, 
 which terminates at the base in a fassicular bundle or roots of fibres." 
 
 Recently De KoninckandDe Hon, in treating of this genus, have 
 adopted a different nomenclature. The Actinocrinus, as defined by 
 these authors, is as follows : 
 Generic Formula: 
 
 Basal pieces, 3, of a quadrangular form. 
 
 Radial pieces, 3x5- 
 
 Interradial pieces, 3x4. 
 
 Anal pieces, 6. 
 
 Brachial pieces, 1, or 2x5- 
 
 Column, cylindrical; canal, pentagonal. 
 
 ACTINOCRINUS ABNORMIS. Lyon. 
 (Plate IV. fig. 1, la, 16.) 
 
 Body. The general form of the most symetrical of this species is 
 sub-globular; others are quite shallow; saucer shaped ;, with a very low, 
 irregular; covering in others the circle of the body, at the insertion of 
 the arms, is deeply emargihate. The form of the inferior part of the 
 calyx is constantly that of a shallow rounded cup, slightly indented 
 around the columnar pit. The basal pieces, and the radials of the 1st 
 and 2nd series, are also constant characteristics. 
 
 The superior surface has a continuous covering, composed of small 
 pieces; the spaces opposite the junction of the arms with the body have 
 
480 PALS ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 generally prominent tubercles, usually rounded and low, sometimes 
 long and sharp-pointed; an additional knob or point usually marks the 
 summit, which is sub-central and near the anal side; around these 
 prominent pieces, are arranged, in a circular manner, small polygonal 
 pieces of various sizes, and the interspaces between these circular 
 patches are filled with pieces . of irregular forms; in some of the 
 best preserved several knobs are joined by the interspace, having s 
 central piece, around which are arranged, circularly, small pieces-— -one 
 piece of the circle forming the connection between the centers of the 
 adjoining circles. 
 
 Oar description is that of a single specimen, differing in many par- 
 ticulars from all others of the species; yet it is believed that no accu- 
 rate observer could fail to reorganize every specimen of the species, 
 by features they have in common, which distinguishes them from oth- 
 er species. 
 
 Basal pieces. The basal pieces, when undivided, presents an oblong 
 hexagonal space — the middle perforation being sub-central; when di- 
 vided, the sutures from the central opening terminate at the center of 
 the inferior margin of the alternate radial pieces of the first series; by 
 this division producing two pieces nearly equal in size, and one gene- 
 rally smaller than the others. 
 
 Radial pieces, 1 st series. Consists of six hexagonal pieces, (one of 
 these pieces is sometimes pentagonal or obscurely hexagonal,) differing 
 somewhat in size and form ; slightly concave — the concavity extending 
 over the whole area of each piece; when arranged in the cup they are 
 nearly horizontal, being only slightly curved. 
 
 Primary radials, 2nd series, five; usually four hexagonal and one 
 pentagonal ; not unfrequently one of the radials is abnormal, and rises 
 between two of the radials of the first series. Fig. lb, plate IV, ex- 
 hibits this anomalous arrangement. Fig. la, plate IV, shows all the 
 pieces in a normal condition (hexagonal.) 
 
 The 3rd series of primary radials consist of four pieces septilate- 
 ral, and one hexagonal ; nearly equal in size. 
 
 Secondary radials, 1st series, consists of eleven pieces, varying in 
 size and form — some being heptagonal, hexagonal, and one being pent- 
 agonal; this last piece rises from the anomalous ray. (Fig. lb, plate 
 IV.) 
 
PAL/EONTOLOGtlUAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 481 
 
 Interradial fields. The interradial fields are four in number, each 
 filled with six pieces, differing in form and size; arranged by one 
 forming the base; from the sloping upper sides of this rise two others; 
 between these latter and their outer upper side, three others; upon 
 these rest the interaxilary pieces, eleven in number; these vary much 
 in form and size in different specimens. 
 
 Nearly all the pieces composing the 2nd and 3rd primary radials, 
 and the interradial fields are flattened or slightly concave; this is char- 
 acteristic and common to the species. 
 
 Anal pieces. The anal pieces vary much in different specimens — 
 from 14 to 18 of irregular form; being neither constant in form nor 
 number. 
 
 The Arms vary in number from ten to fourteen, at their insertion 
 into the calyx; they are very irregular in their arrangement, some- 
 times coming off in five regular pairs; again three pairs — one set of 
 three, and one set of one, making ten; again, three sets of four each 
 one set of three, one of two, and a single arm, standing by itself, mak- 
 ing fourteen. 
 
 Amongst the great number of the species that have come under 
 our-observation, no two have ever been observed with precisely the 
 same arrangement in the zone forming the region of the arms — suffi- 
 cient difference frequently existing, in different specimens, to warrant 
 a separation of the species if the technical arrangement should be re- 
 lied upon. By the low calyx, concave surface of the pieces, and gen- 
 eral appearance, they will, however, be referred oai species. 
 
 Dimensions: 
 
 Greatest heighth of calyx, - - - .-jVo- inch. 
 
 Least heighth of calyx, - .^\ inch. 
 
 Heigth from base to summit, ... .^jl inch. 
 
 Greatest breadth, 1-tW inches. 
 
 Least breadth, ..... 1-tVo - inches. 
 
 Position and locality. Very abundant in the limestone immediate- 
 ly at the base of the "Devonian black slate," and above the beds of 
 Hydraulic cement stone. In the vicinity of Louisville, about fifty feet 
 above the range of Oatenepora escharoides bed. Actinocrinus ahnor-i 
 mis is especially abundant in the bed above alluded to, exposed at the 
 quarries, on the south fork of Bear grass creek; at Rook Island, near 
 61 
 
482 PAL.E0NTOLOGI0AL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 the old Tariscon's mill, at the foot of the falls of the Ohio; and at 
 the crossing of the Jeffersonville and Columbus railroad, on Silver 
 creek, Clarke county, la. It has not been found extending beyond 
 this bed — which varies in thickness from five to twelve or thirteen feet. 
 Of the numerous specimens obtained by collectors, most of them are 
 mere fragments; very few have more than half or three-fourths of the 
 head complete — many not so much. This is the most abundant fos- 
 sil form of the bed at the locality on Beargrass. 
 
 GENUS DOLATOCRINUS. Lyon. 
 
 Gen. char. — Column, round ; composed (near the body) of alternate 
 large and small pieces; perforation pentalobate; rather large; basal 
 pieces five; pentagonal; small; sometimes covered by the column. 
 
 First radials five, hexagonal; second radials five, quadrangular; 
 third radials five, pentagonal ; first secondary radials, ten or eleven, 
 generally hexagonal; second secondary radials quite irregular, varying 
 from ten to thirteen; interaxilarys, those rising from the radials from 
 five to seven, whilst those which rise from the interradial fields vary 
 from ten to twelve; interradials, first series, five, large nonagonal ; 
 the second series, of five, differing in form; arms ten, formed of circu- 
 lar pieces of equal thickness, tapering rapidly toward the superior end; 
 mouth sub-central proboscidate ; summit covered by small polygonal 
 pieces. 
 
 DOLATOCRINUS LACUS. Lyon. 
 Plate IV. fig. 2, 2a, 26, 2c. 
 
 Specific character. — Body sub-globose; truncated below; columnar- 
 pit broad and deep; summit somewhat conical, prolonged by a probos- 
 cis ; column round ; near the body composed of alternate large and 
 smaller pieces articulating by flat radiated surfaces; the upper joint 
 of the column is hemispherical, and partially fills the columnar-pit, 
 nearly and sometimes quite concealing the basal pieces; columnar per- 
 foration rather large and pentalobate. 
 
 Basal pieces five;* pentagonal; nearly of equal size; not quite as 
 
 •The basal pieces are only seen in fragments and crushed specimens; from these we are led 
 to believe that the basal pieces are five in number; should future investigation determine that 
 the base is divided into only three parts, the base would then resemble that of Platycrinus, 
 Miller, not Austin Being now fully pursuaded that this arrangement of five basals, alternat- 
 ing with fire first radials, is the structure of the animal, we have so described it. 
 
PAL^ONTOLOQICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 483 
 
 high as wide; lying deep in the columnar-pit, and frequently conceal- 
 ed by the insertion of the columns, as in fig. 2c, plate IV. 
 
 First radial pieces five ; hexagonal ; nearly equal in size ; twice as 
 broad as high; ornamented by sculptured ridges, which terminate at 
 a longish or rounded knob, near the margin of the columnar depres- 
 sion. 
 
 Second radial pieces five; sub-quadrangular; wider than high ; near- 
 ly of the same size; the center of the pieces are ornamented by a 
 knob, which terminates at this upper margin. In specimens of the 
 aged of this species the knob is frequently prolonged, and assumes the 
 form of a sharp ridge. 
 
 Third radials five; pentagonal; broader than high; same size, or- 
 namented near their center by a knob. 
 
 Secondary radials, first series ten of irregular form ; as large as or 
 larger than the third primary radials; principally hexagonal — some- 
 times one or more are pentagonal. 
 
 Secondary radials, second series, varying in number from ten to thir- 
 teen; irregular in form and size. Inter axilary pieces; these pieces 
 are variable, differing in form and size, and are distinguished as trian- 
 gular and quadrangular — the triangular pieces having their origin in 
 the radial pieces ; eight in number ; those originating from the inter- 
 radial piece of the second series are quadrangular ; twelve or more in 
 number. 
 
 Interradials five ; very large; nonagonal ; angularly pointed below ; 
 truncated on the superior margin ; from these rise the secondary ra- 
 dials, five in number, four of which are pentagonal ; pointed at the 
 summit ; inferior margin as wide as the superior margin of the first 
 interradials on which they rest ; the other piece is quadrangular. 
 
 The arms are ten in number, rising in pairs ; rather short ; tapering 
 rapidly ; composed of ovoid flat pieees, of equal thickness — one side 
 exhibiting the articulating surfaces from which tentaculse have been 
 detached ; the form and arrangement of the tentaculse are unknown. 
 
 Summit. The summitis covered by ratherlarge polygonal pieces, va- 
 rious in form ; generally ornamented by small granular prominences. 
 
 Proboscis or oral tube. In its complete form it is unknown ; judg- 
 ing from the fragments found attached to the specimens, it is small com- 
 pared with the same appendage in other crinoids ; composed of small 
 polygonal pieces. 
 
484 PAL,E0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 External markings. The body is adorned by a most beautiful net- 
 work of raised triangular figures ; the points of the principal triangu- 
 lar figures rise from, and terminate at, the centre of the first interradi- 
 al pieces ; a subordinate set of figures terminate at the centre of all 
 the pieces below the arms. In some specimens the lines are continu- 
 ous, in others, interrupted. The summit pieces are sometimes adorn- 
 ed by a single prominent granule ; in other specimens, many of the 
 pieces are ornamented by a number of granules, arranged in lines across 
 some of the pieces in nearly parallel rows, or in a circular band around 
 a more prominent central one. 
 
 Geological position and locality. Found in great numbers in the 
 limestone immediately over the hydraulic cement beds, Jefferson coun- 
 ty, Kentucky, on Beargrass creek; same beds on Rock Island, Falls 
 of the Ohio river, and Silver creek, Clarke county, Indiana. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Louisville, resting on the hydraulic cement 
 bed, and below the black slate of the Denovian period, occurs a thin 
 bed of limestone, its base resting on the cement stone bed ; in this is to 
 be found a partial bed of conglomerate, of ferruginous gravel ; a similar 
 bed of conglomerate exists below the cement bed. The cement bed at 
 Beargrass creek is from four to six inches thick. Northwsetwaardly, 
 three and a half miles, at the foot of the Falls, on the Indiana side of 
 the river, this stone is eighteen feet thick ; from the bed, at the foot of the 
 Falls, large quantities of hydraulic cement is manufactured, of superior 
 quality. Resting on the cement bed, as before stated, is a bed of lime- 
 stone from four to eight feet thick ; the inferior two feet abounds in 
 crinoidce, in fact, the bed is literally made up of the remains of these 
 animals. Then succeeds, about two feet abounding in fossil corals, 
 amongst which are a few entrochites ; these are again succeeded by 
 Crenoidea, Brachiopoda, and Trilolites. Upon the whole rests a bed 
 of black slate, variously estimated from one hundred to one hundred 
 and forty feet thick. 
 
 A few individuals of our genus, and probably of the same species, 
 occur at the base of the hydraulic beds ; these are seldom well pre- 
 served ; should these prove to be our species, the vertical range of the 
 species will be about twenty-five feet ; should they prove to be differ- 
 ent, the range will be only about two and a half or three feet. 
 
PALiEONTOLOGIOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 485 
 
 GENUS VASOCRINUS. Lyon. 
 Gen. char. — Body vase shaped ; twice as wide as high ; basal pieces 
 five ; pentagonal ; pointed at their superior margin ; primary radials 
 five ; rising between the points of the basal pieces ; secondary radials 
 five ; broad ; irregularly pentagonal ; arms five ; single ; composed of 
 cylindrical pieces ; anal piece one ; hexagonal ; large ; summit un- 
 known ; column unknown. 
 
 VASOCRINUS VALENS. Lyon. 
 (Plate IV. fig. 3, 3 a.) 
 
 Basal pieces five ; low, broad ; pointed at their summit ; swelling 
 at the base ; forming a shallow cup, with perpendicular sides ; bottom 
 slightly concave ; superior margin divided by obtuse points into five 
 broad, shallow, angular notches ; the base articulates with the column 
 by a surface marked by strise, radiating from a small circular opening. 
 
 Radial pieces five ; smooth ; sub-hexagonal ; differing slightly in 
 size ; higher than wide ; rising between the basal pieces. 
 
 Secondary radials five in number ; smooth ; pentagonal ; nearly twice 
 as wide as high ; the median line of these pieces are nearly horizontal ; 
 the truncated face, for the insertion of the arms, eliptical, concave, 
 perforated near the centre, deeply sulcate above the perforation ; the 
 sides are joined together, curving upward and terminating on the sum- 
 mit between the arms ; the piece on the left of the anal piece is much 
 larger than either of the others, and covers the points of two of the 
 radials, whilst that on the right of it is much smaller than the others, 
 and rises from the point and left side of the primary radial, beneath it. 
 The anal piece is large, sub-hexagonal, rising between two of the pri- 
 mary radials, and extends above the lower margin of the axillary face 
 of the second primary radials. 
 
 Arms composed of cylindrical pieces, their legnth and diameter being 
 nearly equal ; perforated and deeply sulcate on the superior side. 
 
 Dimensions : 
 
 Diameter of the base, .... . T y>- inch. 
 
 2 7 
 ■10 
 
 inch. 
 
 Height of the base, 
 
 Height of the body, . T y^ inch. 
 
 Greatest diameter, I-tVo inches. 
 
 Diameter of the axillary articulation, - - .■£?■$ 
 
486 PALjEONTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 
 
 Remarks. This remarkable crinoid was obtained several years since 
 at the quarries on Beargrass creek, near Louisville, where it was found 
 associated with Actinocrinus. Dolatocrinus, &c. It is very rare — this 
 specimen is the only one of this species heretofore obtained. 
 
 VASOCRINUS SCULPTUS. Lyon. 
 (Plate IV. fig. 36, 3c, 3d, 3c.) 
 
 Body small; vase shaped; section at the junction of the arms pen- 
 tagonal ; side of pentagon above the anal pieces nearly twice as long as 
 either of the others; the surface is roughened by raised sculpture; the 
 center of the pieces below the arms are all prominent. On either side 
 of the sutures marking the junction of the basal pieces is a raised rib, 
 which terminates at the center of the first radial pieces lying above 
 the sutures. Similar ribs cover the body, extending from near the 
 center of each to the center of all the contiguous pieces, (except the 
 basal pieces,) thus dividing the surface into nearly equal-sided triangu- 
 lar spaces, deeply depressed at the center, and curving up to the ribs 
 which define them ; at the end of the ribs the triangular spaces are 
 joined by a narrow grooved avenue, not quite so deep as the center of 
 the spaces. 
 
 Basal pieces five; pentagonal; as high as wide; extending beneath 
 to the columnar perforation; junction with the column slightly con- 
 cave. 
 
 Radial pieces five; hexagonal; four of equal size; as high as wide; 
 one much larger than the others, rising between the points of the basal 
 pieces. 
 
 Secondary radials {scapulae, Miller) five; irregularly pentagonal; 
 nearly equal in size, except the piece ,on the left of the anal pieces, 
 which is nearly twice as large as either of the others; articulating 
 facet of the arms uneven ; perforated ; sulcated upon the upper side; 
 the pieces curve upwards at their line of junction, and terminate upon 
 the summit above the line of the arms. 
 
 Anal pieces two; hexagonal; one equaling in size the first radial 
 pieces; the other is quite small. 
 
 Arms five; single; structure beyond the first joint unknown; they 
 start from the body in a horizontal direction. 
 
 Column unknown. 
 
paljEological report or geological survey. 487 
 
 Geological position and locality. Found in the limestone about five 
 feet beneath the Devonian black slate, and above the beds of Hydraulic 
 cement-stone, Jefferson county, and in the same geological position on 
 the falls of the Ohio. It does not appear, from what is known of it, 
 to have a very great vertical range, probably not more than three or 
 four feet. 
 
 OLIVANITES VERNEUILII. Troost. 
 
 Ref. and Syn. Pentremites Verneuilii, Troost, sixth report on the Ge- 
 ology of the State of Tennessee, Nashville, 1841. Pentremites Verneui- 
 lii {Beadle) d 'Orbigny Prodrome de Pal, Slratigr 1, p. 102. 
 
 Elceacrinus Verneuilii Roemer. Monographic der Fossilen Cri- 
 noiden familie der Blastoideen, &Tc., Berlin, 1852, p. 59. 
 
 This fossil is found in great abundance in rocks of the Denovian 
 period, at the Falls of the Ohio river, and on Beargrass creek near 
 Louisville, Jefferson county, Kentucky, and in other localities. 
 
 Professor Troost distinguished this fossil in 1841, as Pentremites 
 Verneuilii. In a list of fossil crinoids of Tennessee, published in the 
 proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science ; of the meeting held at Cambridge, Boston, 1850, the learned 
 professor has removed it from Pentremites ; having erected a new genus 
 for its reception, and distinguished it as Olivanites Verneuilii. In a 
 private letter, written August 3d, 1849, to a distinguished lady of 
 Tennessee, Professor Troost removes Pentremites Verneuilii to Olivani- 
 tes. 
 
 Dr. Fred. Roemer, in an elaborate and able work on the Family 
 Blastoidea, referred to above, has re-described this fossil'under the 
 generic title of Eloeacrinus, (retaining Prof. Troost's specific name,) 
 with excellent figures by Hugo Troschel. For want of well preserved 
 specimens, both the figures and description are defective in many res- 
 pects. 
 
 For these reasons, and possessing quite perfect specimens, it is pro- 
 posed to describe these, and restore the name proposed by that pioneer 
 of western geology, Dr. Troost. 
 
 During the last seventeen years hundreds of these curious forms, 
 known as "Petrified Hickorynuts," have passed through our hands, 
 having been distributed to collectors at home and abroad. Dr. Roe- 
 
488 PAL.E0NTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 mer's description was probably made from some of those furnished by 
 us daring his visit to this country. 
 
 Of the multitudes collected we have now over three hundred speci- 
 mens, and out of this large number, not more than five or six expose 
 the true structure of the body, especially the arrangement of the base, 
 and only two exhibit the pieces at the summit of it. 
 
 OLIVANITES VERNEUILII. Troost. 
 
 (Plate V. fig. 1, la, lb, le, Id.) 
 
 Description. — The body is illipsoidal ; the usual proportion between 
 the height and width is as 4 to 3 ; in the more globose it is sometimes 
 as 3 is to 2^. The whole surface in well preserved specimens, shows 
 a remarkable fine sculpture. The cup, below the ambulacral fields, 
 consists of eleven pieces ; above the cup and between it and the sum- 
 mit are four interradial lanceolate pieces, one anal piece, five pseudam- 
 bulacrse, and ten large pieces ; one on either side of these, making 
 thirty-six prominent pieces, exclusive of those at the summit ; making 
 in all about fifty pieces. Only very short pieces of the column hav- 
 ing been found attached, little of its structure is known ; the small 
 part found attached is round or imperfectly pentagonal. The colum- 
 nar perforation is pentalobate.* 
 
 The Basal pieces, three in number, are very minute; lozenge shaped 
 or quadrilateral; situated at the bottom of the columnar-pit; always 
 concealed when the column is present. 
 
 Primary radials are also three in number; small; situated within 
 the columnar pit; two are hexagonal, and one somewhat lozenge-shaped; 
 nearly of equal size ; each piece is ornamented by three tuburcles, one 
 on either side of the sutures, near the outer margin of the joined 
 pieces, and one near the center of the pieces; they are usually entirely 
 concealed by the column — a single specimen has been seen that ex- 
 hibited a part of these pieces when the column was present. 
 
 Primary radials, second series. These pieces are five in number; 
 forked; one-sixth wider, at the spread of the branches, than high; the 
 inferior margin is deflected within the columnar-pit, and rests on the 
 outer or superior margins of the first radials, as in Pentremites, with 
 this difference, one of the second radials rises from an angular point of 
 
 *A single specimen, out of many, exhibits this structure ; nearly all the specimens are par- 
 tially gilicified, and the structure partially obliterated. 
 
P ILffiONTOLOOICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 489 
 
 one of the hex agonal pieces. The bending or angular deflection of 
 these pieces, into the columnar-pit, is most remarkable, forming, as 
 they- do, a margin about equal to their thickness around the external 
 margin of the columnar-pit, around the column presenting the appear- 
 ance as if their junction with the first primary radials was against 
 their inner face, and not by the inferior margin of the pieces, as is 
 usually the case with crinoidea. The sides of the pieces or branches 
 of the forks are nearly of equal width, tapering or curving slightly 
 from within the. fork outward; the lateral margins are straight; their 
 summits are variously truncated, sometimes by a straight line from 
 within the fork outward and downward; again, by an additional corner re- 
 moved from the point within the fork, and sometimes they are found irre- 
 gularly rounded from the center of the branches to either side; all these 
 forms are seen in a single specimen. The angular indentation between 
 the branches of the fork terminates in a prominent cup, from which pro- 
 ceeds, upward, on either branch of the fork, defining the space between 
 them, a sharp prominent margin marking the limit of the branches of 
 the fork. The branches of the second primary radials are also marked 
 with lines of increment, which conform to the upper and outer margins 
 of the pieces. The lines are prominent, and are probably the remains 
 of the processes marking the margins of the pieces above alluded to. 
 
 Interradial pieces — (No. 4, fig. 1, plate v.) These five pieces are 
 long, (seven times as long as their greatest width;) lanceolate, rising 
 from the notched and curved superior margins of two adjacent branches 
 of the second primary radial pieces, and terminating at the summit of 
 the body, between the ovarial (?) openings; they are divided longi- 
 tudinally by a line from which fine depressed striae diverge at an angle 
 of abont 60° (upward and outward,) dividing the parts of the piece on 
 either side of the center line into flat bands, equal in width to the ribs 
 on the pieces on either side of the pseudambulacral fields, and the 
 pieces composing these, the ambulacrse — sixty of which are contained 
 in an inch* 
 
 The parts here designated interradial pieces, in the best preserved 
 
 * Dr. Roemer's figure represents this part, which is the middle of his "deltoid pieces," as 
 covered with punctures, ("chayrinartig bedect." ) In the above description this part is called 
 interradial piece, and is separated from the pseudambulacral fields, and from the spaces on either 
 side of them. In no specimen, Of thousands, has this punctured surface been observed; it is 
 probably the effect of cleaning with a pointed instrument. It has been observed in some so 
 clean ed. 
 
 62 
 
490 PAljEONTOLOGICAL report op geological survey. 
 
 specimens, are separated from the pieces on either side of thepseudam- 
 bulacrse, by a sharply defined angular ridge, surrounding the whole 
 piece except at the junction with the branches of the radials below it. 
 
 Anal piece. This piece is wider than the interradial pieces ; nearly 
 equal in width in its whole length; rounded at its summit, having a circu- 
 lar notch in its upper margin, the sides of which are frequently trunca- 
 ted obliquely downward from the sides of the notch, above which is 
 situated the large ovoid opehiag. It rises from the Summits of the 
 second radials, like the interradial pieces, and like those it is marked 
 with striae. This piece has much irregularity jn form and adjustment 
 with reference to the body, in different specimens, being disposed above 
 the general surface at its superior extremity, and sometimes below it; 
 frequently the circular notch occupies the whole summit of tha piece, 
 which is then, very prominent, and prolonged above the summit of the 
 body, while in other specimens it terminates a considerable distance 
 below the summit. 
 
 The pseudambulacral fields, five in number, rise from the angular 
 notch in the summits of the second radials, and terminate at the sum- 
 mit; they are alike in size and arrangement of parts; each field- consists 
 of three parts, the middle of which is the longest; rising from the 
 bottom of the notch, as before stated, it is continued to the openings 
 around the summit, which it divides, and is continued beyond them 
 toward the center of the crown, and is lost under the small pieces ar- 
 ranged within the openings. It is divided by a line into equal parts 
 running its whole length, each of which is again divided into a line of 
 pores, and a ridge. In some states of specimens the mesial line is 
 deeply grooved, on either side of which is a rounded ridge, equal in 
 width to the line of pores; thus each field is divided into four parts of 
 equal width — i. e., two lines of pores and two ridges lying between 
 them. In large specimens their width is .^/ r of an inch. The pores 
 are ovoid, the long diameter lying transversely with the specimen, 
 about 60 to the inch; they terminate at the reniform larger openings 
 at the summit. The openings at the summit have their long diameter 
 parallel to the length of the pore pieces. 
 
 The sides of the suture dividing the pore pieces is beautifully orna- 
 mented by fan-like figures, lying nearly opposite the pores; they are 
 nearly triangular in form, composed of six diverging ridges, having a 
 
PAL^ONIOLOGICAL EEPOET OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 491 
 
 common origin opposite the pores ; these are divided by grooves of un- 
 equal depth, increasing in size and depth from the origin of the ridges 
 to the bottom of the groove, quite analogous to the same part in Pen- 
 tremites obesus. 
 
 The pores communicate with the interior of the body. On either 
 side the pore pieces are supported by a piece, two to each field, ten in 
 all, of equal width, nearly of the same form, ornamented with grooves 
 and ridges. The grooves rise at a pore, and cross the pieces transversely, 
 and terminate against the interradial pieces, the whole surface of the 
 pieces being covered by grooves and ridges, which are equal in size to 
 the pore, or the division between the pores, against which they severally 
 originate. These are again crossed obliquely from the outside of the 
 pieces upward, by a set of ribs which rise against the interradials and 
 anal piece, and cross the' supporting pieces of the pseudambulacrse. 
 
 The summit within the circle of the large pores (ovarian openings ?) 
 is divided into about twenty-two small pieces, six of which are dis- 
 posed around the seventh, -which occupies the centre of the crown. 
 They are nearly of equal size, polygonal or nearly circular; without 
 the line of the six pieces, and falling into the indentations around the 
 circle formed by them, are smaller pieces, and on either side of the 
 outer circle of the ovarian (?) openings are small linear pieces, abut- 
 ting against the small pieces outside of the first circle ; all the pieces 
 exept the linear ones are studded with a number of small prominent 
 granules. 
 
 Specimens of this fossil are found ranging from . T 3 -g\ in inch, to an 
 inch and .^\ in length. 
 
 The relative proportion of one of the medium sized, rather globose 
 specimens is as follows : 
 
 Greatest length, 1.^- inches. 
 
 Length from bottom of columnar-pit to summit, I-tVo inches. 
 
 Greatest diameter, 1-tVt inches. 
 
 Least diameter, 1.jl?_ inches. 
 
 Length of second primary radials, - - - .-A- 5 _ inch. 
 
 Length of first primary radials, - - - ._o_ i nc h. 
 
 Length of basal pieces, .... __oj>_ ^^ 
 
 Greatest length of the pieces, - - . l._?_o_ inches. 
 
 Greatest width of pseudambulacral fields, - .^S- inch. 
 
492 PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVET. 
 
 Greatest width of interradial pieces, - - . T y-o inch. 
 
 Greatest length of interradial pieces, - - 1-tVo inches. 
 
 Greatest width of anal piece, - . T Vo- i ncn - 
 
 Greatest leDgth of anal piece, ... l-iVo inches. 
 
 Diameter of columnar pit, .... .^jul inch. 
 
 Geological positiom and locality. — Found in rocks of the Denovian 
 period, about five or six feet below the hydraulic cement-beds, in a 
 rock of peculiar physical character, distinguished as the Olivanite bed ; 
 the bed varies in thickness from one inch to two feet. The space be- 
 tween the Olivanite bed and the hydraulic cement beds, abounds in 
 fragments of Spirifer cultrajugatus, and affords very few fossils, ex- 
 cept a few washed and rolled corals. The Olivanite bed is rather local, 
 although these fossils have a large horizontal range, the beds are in 
 interrupted patches. The beds at the Falls of the Ohio have proba- 
 bly been the most productive. They have also been found on Bear- 
 grass creek, Jefferson county, near Louisville ; on Silver and Fourteen- 
 mile creeks, Clarke county, Indiana ; and near Columbus, Ohio. 
 
 OLIVANITES ANGULAKIS. Lyon. 
 
 The preservation of the specimens of this species is such, that a 
 distinct oharacter cannot be traced of the fine external markings. The 
 general arrangement of the parts, however, are distinctly visible, war- 
 ranting the opinion, that the generic character is that of Olivanites, 
 although some of the parts are not distinctly preserved. 
 
 Specific Character — Plate V. fig. 2, 2 a, 2 b. 
 
 Description. — The body is sub-ovoid ; the diameter of the specimen 
 under consideration, from the anal side, transversely, to the highest 
 point on the opposite side, is . T \ 5 T of an inch ; the diameter parallel 
 with the flattened anal side .Jfo of an inch ; the height being .-^ of 
 an inch. The anal side between the pore pieces, on either side of it, 
 is nearly twice as wide as either of the other sides. The outline is 
 very much inflated on the line of the pore pieces, whilst the interra- 
 dials are deeply seated in the groove between them. The pseudambu- 
 lacral fields rise sharply angular from the interradial pieces, which are 
 much wider, and consequently have a much more rapid taper than the 
 same pieces in Olivanites Verneuilii. The pseudambulacral fields are 
 also narrower in proportion than in that species ; the summit and basal 
 
PAL.E0NTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 493 
 
 extremity are broader and flatter. The first series of primary radials 
 are prominent, and raise out of the basal pit, which they do not in Oli- 
 vanites Verneuilii. Viewed from either end, this species presents an 
 irregularly sided pentagon, the bounding lines of which are concave 
 toward the body of the specimen. This striking difference of section 
 transversely, will at once distinguish this from 0. Verneuilii. 
 
 Geological position and locality. — A few specimens of this species 
 have been found Jn the rocks of the Denovian period, lying between 
 the black slate and the hydraulic cement beds at Rock Island, at the 
 foot of the Falls of the Ohio ; on Beargrass creek, near Louisville ; 
 also, on Silver creek, Clarke county, Indiana. They have a limited 
 vertical range, and are only found near the base of the beds in which 
 they occur. Olivanites Verneuilii does not, so far as our observation ex- 
 tends, rise into the beds above the hydraulic beds, in which it is 
 not found. 
 
 COD ASTER ALTERNATUS. Eyon. 
 (Plate 3, 3 o, 3 6.) 
 
 Body long ; irregularly conical ; summit level in the centre ; slop- 
 ing, slightly toward the outer end of the pseudambulacral fields ; hor- 
 izontal section at the lower extremity of the fields pentagonal, the 
 angles of the pentagon being at the ends of the pseudambulacral field. 
 
 Basal pieces three ; pentagonal ; of equal size ; gibbous ; when 
 joined forming a minute triangular cup, larger than the inferior extrem- 
 ity of the joined first radials fitting upon it ; perforated in the centre 
 by a very small circular opening. 
 
 Radial pieces ; three — two hexagonal complete, one pentagonal, and 
 incomplete, (as in penlremites); the upper margin of the hexagonal 
 pieces are concave in the centre, the corners obliquely truncated, form- 
 ing, with the pentagonal piece, a deep cup, having the upper margin 
 indented with two concave and three angular notches, from which rise 
 five radials of the second series, two fitting upon the concave notches 
 at the summits of the complete pieces ; the other three rising from the 
 angular notches between the three pieces. 
 
 Radial pieces, second series, five ; reaching the summit ; twice as 
 long as wide ; the summit of each indented by an angular notch, 
 broader than deep ; rising from the base of each, and tapering to a 
 poinkat the inferior extremities of the notches, is an elevated rounded 
 
494 PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 rib, ornamented transversely by fine rounded strise, while the margins 
 of the pieces are similarly ornamented, by coarser striee, lying parallel 
 with the margin of the pieces, and terminating against the sides of the 
 rib which occupies the middle. The sides of the second primary ra- 
 dials are sonetimes closed upon the summit, nearly obliterating the 
 triangular field between the pseudambulacral fields. The mesial line is 
 always straight. The mouth seems to be situated at the centre of the 
 summit, from which proceed five minutely granulated, porous, pseud- 
 ambalacrse, terminating at the angular corners of the summit,' in the 
 notch of the second primary radials, forming a prominent ridge, divid- 
 ed, longitudinally, into four equal' parts by three indented lines, the 
 deepest of which rises within the mouth. The spaces on either side 
 of the middle suture are divided by small prominences, diverging from 
 the suture, and terminating within a circular depression, on the inner 
 margin of the outer spaces. Around the mouth, at the junction of 
 the ambulacral fields, are five rounded prominent tubercles — above the 
 ovarial opening, in some specimens, another is added, which is still more 
 prominent; from four of these tubercles -diverge four prominent ridg- 
 es, tapering from the mouth outward, one to the middle of four of the 
 straight sides, the fifth space is without a ridge, being occupied by an 
 ovate or circular (ovarial or anal) opening. The depressed, triangular 
 intervening spaces are filled with seven or more thin pieces, lying par- 
 allel to the pseudambulacral fields, articulating with the summit of the 
 second radial, and the prominent ridge lying between the pseudambu- 
 lacrse. These pieces were evidently capable of being compressed or 
 depressed ; the point at the lateral junction of the second radials is in 
 some specimens folded over toward the mouth so much as to entirely 
 obscure these triangular spaces by covering them. 
 
 The ovarial or anal opening is always over the radial, to the right 
 of the incomplete fiist radial. 
 
 Columnar facet small, round, or obscurely pentagonal. C. alternatus 
 differs from C. acntus and trilobdtus,. McCay, in its greater length, and 
 the rib ornamenting the second radials ; also, by the much greater del- 
 icacy, (judging from McCay's figure,) of the ridge between the am- 
 bulacrae. This species is found much below either of the species of 
 McCay. 
 
PAL.ffiONTOLOGICA.I< EEPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 495 
 
 Geological position and locality. Found in earthy partings between 
 chrystalline limestone, about eight feet below the hydraulic cement 
 beds,* and below the Olivanite horizon at the falls of the Ohio, and in 
 the same geological position on. south fork of Beargrass creek, Jeffer- 
 son county, Kentucky. 
 
 Length of specimen, .—^ inch. 
 
 Greatest diameter,' ----- <T ^ 8 _ inch. 
 
 For valuable hints and assistance our thanks are due to Dr. D. D. 
 Owen ; also, to Samuel Casseday, for the use of his cabinet of Crinoi- 
 dea and Olivanites. SIDNEY S. LYON, 
 
 Assistant Geologist 
 
 •These rocka belong to the Devonian period. 
 
 Explanations of the Plates. 
 
 PLATE I. 
 
 ASTEROCRINUS CORONARIUS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 476. 
 Fig. 2. View of the summit. 
 Fig. la. Basal view of same specimen, natural size. 
 
 GRAPHIOCRINUS— 14 BRACHIALIS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 479. 
 Fig. 2. Generic figure, representing the parts laid out upon a horizontal surface. 
 1. Basal pieces. 2. First radial pieces. 3. Second radials. 4 
 Secondary radials. 5. Arms. 6. Anal pieces. 
 Fig. 2a. Profile view, same specimen. 
 Fig. 2b. Basal view, same specimen, natural size. 
 
496 
 
 PAL^ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGIC iL SURVEY. 
 
 PLATE II. 
 
 PENTREMITES OBESUS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, 'page 469. 
 Fig. 1. Basal view. 
 
 Fig. la. View of the summit, same specimen. 
 Fig. lb. Profile view, same specimen. 
 Fig. lc. Basal pieces. 
 
 Fig. Id. -Fragment showing the interradial pieces, drawn the size of nature. 
 Fig. le. Generic figure, reduced one diameter — 
 
 1. Basal pieces. 2. First radial pieces. 3. second radial pieces. 
 
 4. Third radial pieces. 6. Interradial pieces. 6. Pseudambulacral 
 
 fields. 
 
 PLATE III. 
 
 ASTEROCRINTTS CAPITALIS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, -page 472. 
 Fig. 1. Profile view, (all the figures are the size of nature.) 
 Fig. la. View of one of the club-like lobes, presenting its smallest surface. 
 Fig. lb. View of same part, presenting its greatest surface. 
 Fig. lc. View of the summit. 
 Fig. Id. Basal view. 
 Fig. le. Generic figure — 
 
 1. Basal pieces. 2. Radial pieces. 2a. Anal piece. 3. Secondary 
 
 radials. ' 
 Fig. If. End view of the base, anal side presented. 
 Fig. Ig. External view of the base. 
 Fig. lh. Internal view of the base. 
 Fig. li. End of the base, opposite the anal side, 
 FrG. Ik. End view of the base, showing the long diameter. 
 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 ACTINOCRINUS ABN0RMI8. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 479. 
 Fig. 1. Profile view, natural size. 
 Fig. la. Basal view, same specimen. 
 
 Fig. lb. Generic view, extended from the anal pieces to the knob at the center o 
 the summit. 
 
PALJEONTOLOGIOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL STJRVET. 497 
 
 DOLATOCRINUS LAOUS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 482. 
 Fig. 2. Generic figure. 
 Fig. 2a. Summit view. 
 Fig. 2b. Basal view, same specimen, size of nature. • 
 
 8 VASOCRINUS VALENS. Lyon. 
 
 Volume 3, page 485. 
 Fig. 3. Generic figure, size of nature, the pieces arranged around the columnar 
 
 facet. 
 Fig. 3a. Profile view, vasocrinus valens. 
 
 Fig. 8b. Vasocrinus sculptus, from which the external sculpture has been removed, 
 ansl side front, natural size. 
 
 VASOCRINUS SCULPTUS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 486. 
 Fig. 3c. Profile view, natural size, different specimen. 
 Fig. 3d. Basal view of same specimen. 
 Fig. 3e. Summit view of same specimen, natural size. 
 
 PLATE V. 
 OLIVANITES VERNEUILII. Troost. 
 Volume 3, page 487 ,488. 
 Fig. 1. Olivanites Verneuilii, natural size, anal side front. 
 Fig. la. Olivanites Verneuilii, natural size, side opposite the anal side. 
 Fig. lb. Generic figure — 1. Basal pieces (lighter colored.) 2. Primary radials, 
 1st series. 3. Primary radials, 2d series, (forked pieces.) 6. In- 
 terradial pieces. 4. Pseudambulacral fields, and supporting pieces 
 on either side. 4 1 . Anal piece, with the large opening at the summit. 
 6. Small pieces at the summit. 
 Fig. lc. Summit view, natural size. 
 Fig. Id. Basal view, natural size. 
 
 OLIVANITES ANGULARIS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 492. 
 Fig. 2a. Olivanites Angularis, anal side front, natural size, from a large speci- 
 men. 
 Fig. 2b. Olivanites Angularis, summit view. 
 Fig. 2. Olivanites Angularis, side opposite the anal side. 
 
 63 
 
498 PALfflONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CODASTER ATTENNATUS. Lyon. 
 Volume 3, page 403. 
 Fig. 3. Generic figure — 1. Basal pieces. 2. Radial pieces, 1st series. 3. Ra- 
 dial pieces, 2d series. 4. Angular pieces, on the summit, occupying 
 a position in reference to the 2d radials, similar to the interradial 
 pieces in Pentremites. 
 Fig. 3a. Summit view, enlarged two diameters. 
 Fig. 3b. Profile view, natural size. 
 
 SIDNEY S. LYON. 
 
PAL^ONTOLOGICAL REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FOSSIL FLORA OF THE COAL MEASURES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WESTERN KENTUCKY COAL FIELD 
 
 BY 
 
 LEO LESQUEREUX, 
 
 PALAEONTOLOGIST. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 
 
 Dear Sir : I herewith submit my report on the identification of the 
 veins of the Southwestern Coal Measures of Kentucky. 
 
 Permit me first to most gratefully acknowledge the liberal and en- 
 lighteded support that I received from you, to ensure the success of 
 my researches. It is by following exactly your directions, that with 
 the co-operation of Mr. E. T. Cox, your able assistant, we are able to point 
 out now, for the first time, some general and reliable characters, which 
 may prove of practical advantage for the identification of the richest 
 beds of coal of Kentucky, and of the whole coal-fields of the United 
 States. 
 
 It was understood that I should only have to collect and examine 
 the fossil plants of the Western Coal Fields of Kentucky, with essen- 
 tial references to the peculiar species of each bed of coal. You wantr 
 ed thus to ascertain the practicability of establishing the order of su- 
 perposition, and by this means, the identification of the beds. I had 
 been engaged during two years, in following the same researches for the 
 state survey of Pennsylvania, in the anthracite coal-fields of that state, 
 and had obtained some interesting and practical results from the study 
 of the fossil plants found in connection with the shales of each bed of 
 coal. But as soon as we began our explorations, in the bituminous 
 coal-fields of Kentucky, it became evident that the marine element 
 was predominant in the shales of most of the beds, and that it would 
 be of little advantage to limit our researches to the fossil botany 
 only, since shells and remains of fishes were mostly found in the 
 shales, without any plants whatever. For that reason, and confident 
 that the general principles exposed hereafter, would prove reliable for 
 the distribution of the shells, as well as of plants, I determined to 
 carefully examine the marine remains of each bed, and to collect them 
 for comparison and study. 
 
 Mr. E. T. Cox, who is entitled to his share of the practical results of 
 our explorations, being better acquainted with the shells than I am, 
 took especial care of this part of our work, and by his unremitting 
 researches, and arduous labor, we have been able to collect a large num- 
 
502 PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 ber of specimens, which have been subjected to your examination. 
 From them it is evident that the distribution of the species of shells 
 in the shales of a bed of coal is as reliable, for its identification, as 
 the distribution of the species of fossil plants. 
 
 The following introductory remarks may appear out of place in a 
 local report like this, but I think that they are not without a practical, 
 advantage. They will give not only an answer to a question scarcely 
 understood as yet, and often put to us by persons interested in the 
 coal business, viz : what is the coal, and how has this fuel been formed ? 
 But they will also enable the reader fully to understand the practical 
 deductions, and to test their value. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell on the advantages of undoubtedly ascer- 
 taining the geological level of a bed of coal, since it is evident that 
 profitable explorations for coal can be made, with some chances of 
 success, only from the directions of a previously ascertained and well 
 established geological level. When this is exactly ascertained, a sin- 
 gle glance at a vertical section of the measures gives an answer to the 
 question: at what distance above or below shall we expect to find 
 another coal, and what will possibly be the thickness of the bed? 
 
 The few quotations and references to researches previously made by 
 myself, in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, will be easily 
 excused, since they tend to solve the problem of the coeval formation, 
 even of the primitive connection of all the coal-fields of the United 
 States — a question most . interesting for geology, and eagerly discuss- 
 ed just now. And as for the right I may have to quote a few lines of 
 a report delivered in 1&54, to the director of the Geological State Sur- 
 vey of Pennsylvania, and of which a small pamphlet, " Description of 
 netv species of fossil plants, $"c," has only been published, I do not 
 think that it can be denied me. This report, elaborated with great 
 care, and the arduous labor of two years, was to appear in the final 
 report of the Geological State Survey of Pennsylvania, but it is a 
 question if it will ever be published. Therefore, I do not think that 
 I*am bound to entirely disregard some scientific results, which may be 
 of general advantage, for the only reason that they have been made 
 under the direction of another state. 
 
 I am, sir, most respectfully, yours, 
 
 LEO LBSQUBEEUX. 
 Dr. D. D. Owen , Director of the BUM Survey of Kentucky* 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 In tracing the features, and studying the rocks and compounds of 
 the earth's surface, no problem has more frequently occupied the mind 
 of geologists than the formation of coal. Where does this black sub- 
 stance come from, hard as stone, and nevertheless inflamable as wood; 
 half bitumen, half charcoal, encased between beds of shale and rock, 
 which, by their fossil remains, their fishes, shells, or plants, attest the 
 highest antiquity ? Has coal been originated in the bowels of the 
 earth by some volcanic agency, and deposited in a fluid state, like the 
 lavas or the primitive rocks of many mountains ? No ! for it is strat- 
 ified, laminated, extended in horizontal beds, covering very large sur- 
 faces with a nearly constant thickness. Moreover, the shales in which 
 it is ordinarily incased bear evident proofs that they have been slowly 
 deposited in a quiet water basin, and that subterranean fire has had no 
 action upon them, except perhaps as a hardening agency. Or, perhaps, 
 has coal been made of the remains of extensive forests, overthrown, 
 transported, and deposited again in valleys and hollows, by an uni- 
 versal flood. But, by such a cataclysm, those remains could not have 
 been distributed in an harmonious manner, in extensive beds of equal 
 thickness, and especially in such purity that they scarcely contain any 
 particle of mud, sand, or any substance that does not belong to the 
 chemical compounds of the wood. For the same reason, also, the beds 
 of coal cannot be the result of heaps of drift-wood along the banks of 
 the large rivers, or on the shores of the sea. It is then necessary to 
 admit, with most of the best living geologists, that the coal beds have 
 been formed nearly in the same manner as the peat-bogs of our own 
 time, and that the coal itself is nothing else but decomposed and har- 
 dened woody matter, remains of immense and successive forests, grown, 
 decayed, heaped up, and then entombed on the spot, in their gigantic 
 shrouds of black slate, of black, white, and grey limestones, or of yel- 
 low sandstone. 
 
 But such an explanation is too general, too indefinite, to be easily un- 
 derstood, and especially to give a satisfactory account of the various 
 
504 PAL&ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 accidents which have accompanied the formation of the coal. And 
 since it is, from the nature of the shales of the coal-beds, and from the 
 remains, whether plants or animals, found in connection with them, that 
 the writer of this report intends taking the characters that may help to 
 their identification, or to the ascertaining of their geological level, it 
 is necessary to give, at least, the details that may he justly required, 
 as reliable proofs of the validity of his opinion. 
 
 The vegetable is cotemporary with the animal kingdom. Plants 
 and animals have appeared at the same time on the earth, and grown to- 
 gether in parallel lines — for the remains of marine plants or fucoides 
 are found in the oldest stratified rocks, in connection with the petrified 
 remains of shells. As soon as a part of the earth's surface has been 
 thrown out of the sea, like a new-born child, nature, its kind mother, 
 has covered it with the green carpet of another vegetation. But the 
 rise of a solid surface above the sea does not appear to have been a sud- 
 den and paroxismal event. Impelled by the action of an internal fire, 
 the crust of the earth, still thin and scarcely solid, was continually 
 swelling here and there, with a variety of undulating movements — 
 ascending and then subsiding at the same place — either propelled by 
 the internal fire, or depressed by its own weight, when the force lost its 
 energy. In this manner, ranges of hills began to appear, breaking 
 the monotonous horizon of an universal ocean; and at their base, im- 
 mense plains, leveled by the long protracted action of the waves, being 
 by and by raised to the surface and separated from the sea by heavy 
 banks of sand, were thus transformed into shallow marshes, prepared 
 for another kind of vegetation. Such marshes though, of a far more lim- 
 ited extent, are seen in our time along the shores, both of the Atlan- 
 tic and of our great lakes, the Dismal and Alligator swamps of the 
 south; the Sandusky, Montezuma, and Toledo marshes of the north. 
 But before those immense plains were thus slowly elevated and sep- 
 arated from the vast deep, the sea came for a long time, breaking its 
 waves against the primitive hills, or at least, was long engaged in de- 
 positing around their base the mud with which its waters were charged. 
 Those gigantic deposits of red sandstone, bordering the coal basin on 
 its eastern margins, are especially the work of the tides. Like the 
 conglomerates which were afterwards deposited upon them, they thick- 
 en to the east, and nearly disappear in the cqntrvy vi r ? f,+ ion ? evidently 
 
PALS10NT0LOGICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 505 
 
 showing where then were the first shores of the ocean — the first out- 
 line of the Alleghany mountains perhaps. 
 
 The conglomerates of the anthracite basins of Pennsylvania are 
 about fifteen hundred feet high, composed of sand and pebbles of 
 quartz, which are sometimes as large as hens' eggs. On the contrary* 
 in the western part of the Coal Measures, in Indiana, Kentucky, and 
 Tennessee, they are comparatively thin, and of a finer texture — just as 
 it happens that near the shallow shores of our lakes, or of the Atlantic, 
 the gravel and coarse materials of the bottom are heaped by the waves 
 nearer to the margin, in proportion to their size, the finest particles of 
 sand being necessarily drawn farther from the shores where the action 
 of the waves is less violent. It was in this manner that the first basin 
 of the coal was prepared. Bordered to the east by a chain of hills, the 
 bottom was slowly upheaved, and the ocean darned far away to the 
 west, began there, by its perpetual movements, to build again its new 
 shores, and to close in the coal basin with high banks of sand and grav- 
 el. This separation was necessary, for a shallow, quiet, water, of a 
 constant level, is the first condition of the formation of peat, and con- 
 sequently of coal. 
 
 The plants of the bogs have a peculiar growth and a peculiar com- 
 position. They live ordinarily half immersed in water, and raise their 
 stems, branches, leaves, and flowers above the surface. They are gen- 
 erally of a woody texture. Even the mosses and the grasses of a 
 peat-bog contain, comparatively to their size, as much woody fibre as 
 the hardest oak. The trees are most of them resinous. In the north- 
 ern part of the United States the balsam-fir, the black and white 
 spruce, the tamarack, the arbor- vitse and the white cedar; in the south, 
 the bald cypress, the great and small laurel magnolias, the tulip-tree, 
 are commonly seen growing on the cedar swamps, with birches, alders, 
 poplars, and other resinous shrubs. The peat bogs of Europe are 
 abundantly covered with a kind of dwarf-pine, from the leaves and 
 twigs of which the rpsin trickles upon the mossy ground, forming all 
 around the trees a hard floor of tar many inches in thickness. Most 
 of the plants of those marshes, except a few trees, belong to that pe- 
 culiar station; they do not grow out of their bogs, neither can they 
 be transported and cultivated out of them. For that reason the vege- 
 tation of the cedar swamps cannot be taken as a true representative of 
 
 8* 
 
506 PAL.ffiONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 the flora of a whole country. It has its place in the harmony of na- 
 ture, like the fruits and flowers of our gardens, the grass of the prairie, 
 the trees of the forest. It was destined for the condensation, the pre- 
 servation of carbon, for the formation of coal. For truly, when we 
 examine fossil plants that have been preserved in the shales of the 
 coal, or when we analyze the substance of the coal itself, we find that 
 the plants which formed it have the greatest likeness to those of our 
 actual peat-bogs, viz : the ferns, the club-mosses, the horse-tails, the 
 rushes, the reeds, and especially the resinous trees. The most remarka- 
 ble difference is that all these plants, compared with those of our time, 
 were of a monstrous size. They were, indeed, the mastodons, the 
 mammoths, of the vegetable world. 
 
 Every body is now acquainted with Liebig's explanation of the com- 
 bustion and decomposition of wood. When heat is applied to it, it 
 burns with flame, developing carburetted hydrogen. When woody 
 fibre is brought into contact with air, in a moist condition, it is gradual- 
 ly decayed, viz : changed into mould or humus, by the conversion of 
 the oxygen of the air into the same volume of carbonic acid. Its 
 carbon is then not only preserved, but augmented. When the access 
 of air is restrained, decay, or a slow burning of the wood, is in like 
 manner produced, but the process is different. The disengagement of 
 carbonic acid, though continuous, is slight, and the final result is 
 charcoal, wood-coal, lignite, mineral-coal, anthracite, even diamond, 
 according to the conditions under which this slow burning has taken 
 place — the quantity of water, the more or less free access of the oxy- 
 gen of the air, compression, heat, &c. Says Liebig: "A slow but con- 
 tinual removal of oxygen in the form of carbonic acid, from layers of 
 wood-coal, or of wood immersed and decomposing in water, transforms 
 necessarily the woody substance into mineral coaL On the contrary, 
 the removal of all the hydrogen of mineral coal, converts it into an- 
 thracite." From this we draw the conclusion, that for the formation 
 of coal, a large production of woody fibre, at a constant water level, is a 
 necessary condition. 
 
 The presence of the water, and its constant level, are necessary not 
 only to prevent a too rapid decomposition of the wood, but also for the 
 vegetation, itself, of the marshes. Plants living entirely immersed in 
 water, do not have a larger proportion of woody fibre in their tissues. 
 
PALjEONTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 507 
 
 The fucoides, or marine weeds, are of this kind. To elaborate wood, 
 the plant wants the contact of the air with the porous surface of its 
 leaves. The marsh plants, then, having their roots fixed in the ground 
 below water, expand their leaves either on the surface of the water or 
 above it. Trees need, for their vegetation, the absorption of air 
 through their roots. Hence, those which grow on the bogs, extend 
 their roots and rootlets in a large circuit, let them run near the surface 
 among the mosses, and ordinarily plant themselves on a higher level, 
 either on the decayed trunks of other trees, or on some heap of mat- 
 ter. In any case, a formation of peat is impossible in a marine basin 
 not entirely secured against the action of the tides, or in the marshes 
 of rivers, which, though covered with high water in the spring, become 
 dried by the heat of the summer months. Along the shores of the 
 ocean, of our lakes or our large rivers, there are extensive marshes, 
 inaccessible during the spring, and even during part of the summer, 
 covered with rushes and reeds, the bottom of which is constantly and 
 slowly elevated by thin layers of mud or clay, but never covered with 
 peat. 
 
 The same phenomenon is produced in lakes and bayous, where water 
 is too high for the growth of the plants, and on the borders of which 
 the water level is not constant. The matter deposited at the bottom 
 of those deep marshes is constantly a fine mud. 
 
 There is perhaps no place in the world where the process of the for- 
 mation of coal may be studied, with better chances of a clear elucida- 
 tion of all its phenomena, than in the Dismal and Alligator swamps 
 of southern Virginia and North Carolina. The extent, though truly 
 nothing compared with the area of the coal-fields of America, covers, 
 nevertheless, thousands of square miles. They are separated from the 
 bays and sounds that surrounds them by broad hills, and large banks 
 of sand, bordering the Atlantic, in a continuous row, from Cape 
 Henry, or Norfolk in Virginia, to the mouth of Cape Fear river, or 
 Wilmington in North Carolina. They contain, in their wide area, sand 
 hills, deep deposits of peat, and lakes. The hills are covered with the 
 vegetation of dry land. The peat, from one to fifteen feet thick, 
 follows at its bottom the irregularities of the surface on which it rests, 
 thinning and disappearing entirely where it abuts against the hills : 
 for a bed of peat, depending for its formation on the level of the water, 
 
508 PAL-EONTOLOGJCAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 has just the se me appearance, or at least, by a cross-section, would 
 present the same front as the transverse soundings of a shallow sheet 
 of water. 
 
 Fi g .t 
 
 •Fig. 1. Approximate section across the Dismal Swatnp — a. Deposits of peat. a'. Depo- 
 sits oi' trees at the bottom of Drummond's lake. b. Surface of lake Drummond. c. White 
 clay of the bottom, d. Hills of sand. e. Sand below the marshes. 
 
 As for the vegetation itself, and its action on the formation of the 
 peat, let any tourist try to find his way directly across the swamp, from 
 some point on the canal to Drummond's lake and he will understand 
 at once all about . the mystery of the heaping of vegetable matter. 
 Wading at least knee deep in water, or in a black soft mud, or sinking 
 at every step deeper and deeper in the hillocks of green mosses, where 
 he thought to find a dry and solid footing for a minute's rest, he has 
 literally to cut a path through a wall of canes, of reeds, and of shrubs. 
 The only place -where he finds firm stepping and a clear space, is on 
 the roots of the bald cypress, which raise themselves above the water 
 around each tree, like the scalped skulls of a tribe of Indians; or, 
 perhaps, on the prostrated trunk of a huge magnolia tree, covered with 
 mosses, and slowly sinking in its muddy grave, not to decay, but to be 
 embalmed and preserved like an Egyptian mummy. Every year the 
 mingled mass of vegetation, the mosses, the canes, the reeds, the 
 trunks, branches and leaves of the trees and shrubs, are heaped and 
 deposited on the surface of the bog, to be, by and by, transformed into 
 combustible matter, by the process of slow decomposition. 
 
 Some of the lakes now open on the surface of the marshes have cer- 
 tainly been hidden, formerly, by a thick coat of vegetation. Drum- 
 mond's lake is only fifteen feet deep, and its bottom is strewn with 
 the remains of an overthrown forest, which has probably sunk by its 
 own weight. Phenomena like this are frequent in the large peat-bogs 
 of northern Europe, especially in Sweden, Denmark— -even in the 
 mountains of Switzerland. The green carpet of vegetation which, by 
 
 •The figure is drawn without reference to any exact proportions ; in depth it represents 
 about one foot in the 8th part of an inch) iu length one inch would represent more than two 
 miles. 
 
PAL.330NTOLOGICAL KEPOB.T OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 500 
 
 the agency of floating mosses, spreads on such lakes, is sometimes so 
 thin that it breaks under a light pressure, and men and animals are 
 frequently engulfed and irretrievably lost in their treacherous waters. 
 The rich cabinets of Lund and Copenhagen are filled with antiquities 
 collected in the peat-bogs of that country — weapons and armor; 
 ornaments of copper, silver and gold; tools and instruments of every 
 description; bones and skulls of extinct or living races of animals; of 
 men also; even the whole skeleton of a woman, with her clothes, have 
 been found imbedded in the peat. 
 
 Drummond's lake has now been open for many hundred years; its 
 black water has entombed its sunken forest under a bed of mud. The 
 surface of the lake, like the general surface of the Dismal swamp, is 
 only 161- feet above mid-tide of the Atlantic. If we suppose a slow 
 depression of all the space covered by the Alligator and Dismal swamps, 
 of say only a few feet in a hundred years, what would be the result? 
 At first the water rises above its former level, since its outlets are ne- 
 cessarily obstructed, and the remains of the plants still growing here 
 and there upon the hillocks of the marsh, fall every year into the wa- 
 ter and sink to the bottom — not to add any more matter to the bed of 
 the peat, but to be incorporated with the soft mud continually deposi- 
 ted by the water. If the downward movement continues, every trace 
 of vegetation must disappear, and the marsh forms an extensive lake, 
 connected by some outlet with the sea, which brings to it a few species 
 of its inhabitants, either fishes or molluscs; and, by and by, after a 
 still lower depression, either the sea spreads quietly over the whole 
 space, and its water covers it with a deposit of limestone, wherein are 
 imbedded the remains Of the shells and animals of the deep; or, per- 
 haps, after a sudden cataclysm, there is a depression of a few feet, and 
 the sea, overcoming its barriers, rushes into its old level, sweeps over 
 its old bed with impetuosity, and brings with its waves the banks of 
 sand and the gravel of its shores, to scatter them more or less irregularly 
 over the whole surface. Let the land rise and the water recede again, 
 and the formation may be repeated many times, with many modifica- 
 tions. This simple work of nature, operating in this wise for an im- 
 mense number of ceuturies, will necessarily result in the transforma- 
 tion of the whole stratum to true CoaL Measures. The compressed 
 and crystallized peat will be the coal; the soft mud slowly deposited 
 
510 PAL&ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 upon it by quiet and shallow waters, will be hardened to black shales, 
 and show us the petrified remains of plants, shells, or fishes. The de- 
 posits of the deep, quiet, marine waters, have formed a bed of lime- 
 stone above it, and if, afterwards, sand has been brought in by the cur- 
 rents of the sea, the whole measures — coal, shales and limestone — 
 become covered with sandstone. 
 
 The only thing not explained above, is the formation of the fire-clay 
 of the bottom, which, by a cross-section, would certainly be found un- 
 der the coal of the Dismal Swamp, as it is found under nearly every 
 bed of the old Coal Measures. 
 
 As we have seen before, the woody matter deposited in a basin can 
 only be preserved and transformed, if the water is of a constant level. 
 Resting on the sand, the water percolates through it, and consequently. 
 is subject, by a constant motion, to a perpetual change of chemical con- 
 stituents, and to a renewal of the particles of air which it contains. 
 This change is opposed to the formation of peat, since water, before 
 being prepared for the preservation and transformation of woody sub- 
 stance, has to become saturated with a peculiar acid — the ulmic acid — _ 
 produced by the decomposition of wood itself. Thence it follows, that 
 a peat or coal basin has to be separated and prepared to keep its water, 
 like a well cemented cistern. This work is done by very small animals 
 — infusoria — and by peculiar species of plants. In the peat forma- 
 tions of the present, day the clay bottom of the bogs is prepared by 
 fresh water molluscs and infusoria, and by the vegetation of the cTiar- 
 acece and confervce, two families of cryptogamous plants, which disap- 
 pear entirely, as soon as the peaty vegetation begins. They fix in their 
 shells, or in their tissue, the carbonate of lime or the silica, 
 abundantly dissolved in some water, and by their decomposition they 
 deposit those substances at the bottom of the water in the form of a 
 very fine mud. In Denmark, there are some perfectly isolated ponds, 
 where this soft mud or clay is formed, by the agency of the above 
 named animals and plants, at the rate of one foot and more in every 
 five years. 
 
 As there is no bed of peat, but is underlaid by soft white clay, so 
 there is no bed of mineral coal without its bottom of fire-clay, except 
 when it has been deprived of it by some accidental circumstance. This 
 fire-clay is free from remains of animals and shells, but it contains very 
 abundantly the stems and leaves of a species of plant, Stigmaria ficai- 
 
PALjEoNTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 511 
 
 des, . (plate 7, fig. 2.) which undoubtedly, like the Char a and the 
 Horsetail of our time, has especially contributed to fix the silica, and 
 to precipitate it to the bottom with its remains. 
 
 In this abridged exposition we cannot discuss the value of any of 
 the above made assertions. -Nevertheless, not one of them has been 
 admitted without a critical ^examination, and after its trnth has been 
 ascertained by serious researches, or by reliable authorities. 
 
 The formation of the coal being thus understood in its whole, it is 
 easy to draw from it the explanation of the different modifications of 
 the Coal Measures, and to deduce some general rules for the identifica- 
 tion of the veins. 
 
 1st. the fire-clay. 
 This clay, ordinarily full of rootlets and stems of stigmaria, so gen- 
 erally underlays every bed of coal, and its general appearance and 
 chemical elements are so much the same, that except, perhaps, for its 
 general thickness, it cannot become a very reliable guide for the iden- 
 tification of the beds. Even its thickness is variable. It depends on 
 the depth of the basin in which it is formed, and on the regularity of its 
 bottom — thickening in the hollows, and sometimes entirely disappear- 
 ing near the margins of the basin. Variously tinctured by more or 
 .. less- of oxide of iron, it is generally whitish, but sometimes as red as 
 ochre, and even variegated like marble, in the same bed. The quan- 
 tity of stigmaria found in it is as variable as its color, and as for its 
 chemical elements they depend, like the color, on the mixture of iron 
 and lime, especially silica and alumina, which are never uniformly dis- 
 tributed in a wide expanse of shallow water. This fire-clay of the Coal 
 Measures appears sometimes alone, and without any bed of coal above 
 it. In which case it may be intermixed with layers of shales, covered 
 with the remains of plants, especially of ferns. Then it indicates only 
 the place which was prepared for the vegetation of a bed of coal. 
 Some accident — the shallowness of the water perhaps, or some dis- 
 turbance of its level — has prevented the growth and accumulation of 
 vegetable matter in sufficient abundance to form the coal. But the 
 plants, growing upon the marsh, have been imbedded and preserved in 
 the shales above the fire-clay as testimony to its natural destination. 
 Nevertheless, those isolated beds of fire-clay, overlaid by plants, are not 
 always barren of coal, and by following them to some distance the coal 
 
512 PAI^EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 is often found somewhere reposing on their surface. The fire-clay is 
 generally a reliable guide for the identification of veins, when it sepa- 
 rates two beds of coal, forming what is generally called a clay parting. 
 In this case, it is ordinarily found, though of variable thickness, over 
 a wide extent. But it is then formed like the shales; in some cases, it 
 is even a true shale, and it is in the examination of the shales that 
 the reason of its formation, and of its appearance, ought to be looked 
 for. 
 
 2nd. THE COAL? 
 
 There is no substance of which so many chemical analyses have 
 been made, and none, also, of which the chemical elements are so well 
 known. The general result of all these analyses has proved a curious 
 fact, viz : that two pieces of coal, taken from the same bed, at only a 
 few feet distance, have scarcely ever presented exactly the same propor- 
 tions in the quantity of their essential compounds. The reason of this 
 is easily understood: each plant, especially each kind of tree, has for its 
 wood a peculiar composition; each one is more or less resinous, hard or 
 porous, has more or less of woody matter in an equal volume, and each 
 plant has a peculiar acid ; all the essential elements are locally preserved 
 in the coal. The same remark is true of beds of peat, of which two slices 
 cut either horizontally or vertically, at a distance of one or two feet from 
 each other, never present exactly the same appearance, nor exhibit ex- 
 actly the same proportion in their chemical elements. Some plants of the 
 coal — the Catamites and the Stigmaria especially, fix in their tissue the 
 silica of the water, and the quantity of ash varies in proportion to their 
 abundance in the coal. Some others are porous, and when lying on the 
 surface of ;i bed of coal, they let particles of mud percolate through, or 
 within their tissue, and produce the same result in another way, and at 
 another place. From these different causes, the ashes of the coal have a 
 different color, and the distinction of white ash and red ash coal, which 
 may be of great moment in the identification of the beds of part of a 
 basin, is, when considered in a general point of view, of little value. If 
 we may rely on the sections of the anthracite basins of Pennsylvania 
 as they are generally given, the upper beds of it belong to the red, the 
 intermediate ones to the grey, and the lower ones to the white ash se- 
 ries. In the coal-fields of western Kentucky and of Illinois, the 
 upper beds of coal are white ash, the middle ,qnes red, and the lower 
 
PAL.E0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 513 
 
 grey or reddish * The classification of the colors could not be more 
 completely reversed. 
 
 This color of the ashes is probably, also, in immediate connection 
 with the nature of the vegetation which has formed the coal. In the 
 peat formations the matter formed by the heaping and decomposition 
 of trees gives white ash ; a compound of small herbaceous plants, 
 ferns, rushes, canes, mosses, gives red ash; and a mixture of both 
 forms the grey color of the ashes of some beds. 
 
 The external appearance of the coal is as much varied as its chemi- 
 cal elements. The trees, sometimes, when they are very resinous, 
 have formed, by their decomposition, such a compact and homogeneous 
 mass, that the coal receives a peculiar appearance ; it is then known 
 by the name of cannel coal. Another species of wood preserves, 
 even in the coal, some trace of its primitive texture, and shows, in its 
 fracture, a peculiar reflection of light, called, by the miners, the birds 
 eye. 
 
 The coal is mostly stratified in thin laminae or coats, alternately 
 shining and dull — an appearance which clearly indicates an annual de- 
 posit of decayed vegetable matter, and the action of the water on it, 
 during the winter time, or before the beginning of a new vegetation. 
 The stratification of peat is exactly the same as that of coal ; but the 
 layers are variable in thickness, from the sixth of an inch to one inch 
 and more, becoming natuarally thinner under a great compression, and 
 nearer to the bottom of the beds. 
 
 The laminated appearance of coal is already a proof against the of- 
 ten repeated opinion, that it has been formed by the overthrow of vast 
 forests; but there is a more conclusive argument against it. One 
 acre of ground, covered with dense forest, and when its yield is care- 
 fully estimated, would afford, in 120 years, 10,450 cubic feet of wood; 
 supposing the growth of peat to be only one foot in the same number 
 of years, one acre of bog would produce 19,660 cubic feet of peat, 
 (measured dry, and ready for burning.) A thick forest, overthrown 
 by a cataclysm, and buried in the sand, would scarcely make three 
 inches of coal. But some peat-bogs of Ireland, Germany and Switzer- 
 land, which have continuous beds of peat twelve to fifteen feet thick, 
 
 •Table of analyses of coal from saline and other localities, in the Geological report of sa- 
 line eoal mines and Manufacturing Co. p. 60, by D. D. Owen, Cincinnati, 1855. 
 
 65 
 
614 PALaSONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 would, if they were transformed into coal, produce three to five feet of 
 hard mineral coal. 
 
 For a better understanding of the different features and various ap- 
 pearances of coal, it is necessary to remember that the woody substance 
 in its decomposition or slow burning, and befoi'e arriving at its harden- 
 ed state of mineral coal, is ordinarily subjected to a softening process. 
 The low part of a bed of peat is, in most cases, a black paste. In the 
 old lignite deposits of Germany, large trunks of trees, perfectly black- 
 ened, are heaped and flattened into beds of six feet to nine feet thick, 
 and their woody substance has become so soft that the workmen 
 can easily cut it with their shovels; hence the flattening of all the 
 stems in the coal and the shales; the remarkable appearance of im- 
 mense pieces of bark rolled and pressed together, like sheets of paper; 
 hence, again, the compactness of some coals ; the evident stratification 
 or lamination of others; the remarkable action of the sulphuret of 
 iron, in transforming into pyrites whole flattened stems, or in preserv- 
 ing in the cannel coal of Breckinridge the outlines of the stigmaria, and 
 of their leaves, with such neatness that they look as if they had been 
 painted in yellow, on a ground of black. 
 
 The thickness of a coal bed, notwithstanding contrary assertions, is 
 scaicely a reliable guide for identification; though as it has been pre- 
 viously explained, the coal is formed on a continuous surface, and not 
 deposited here and there in hollows of various extent, depth, and di- 
 rections — for this thickness depends on the evenness of the bottom 
 upon which it rests. When a bottom of sand, or of any other loose 
 substance whatever, has been for a long time covered by a deep sea, it 
 is mostly even and unbroken; a bed of coal formed upon it is gener- 
 ally of continous and of equal thickness. But when two beds of coal 
 are only separated by a thin formation of sandstone, and consequently 
 have been formed at a short interval from each other, the sandstone 
 covering the lower bed often bears, on its surface, numerous wrinkles 
 and furrows, as an evidenoe of the action of turbulent waters. In this 
 case, the coal formed above it is only piecemeal, in separate payers, 
 thick in places, then rapidly thinning until it disappears, to be again 
 found at a distance of a medium thipkness, and continue for a while. 
 
PAL-BONTOLOGIOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGIC At SURVEY. 516 
 
 3rd. THE SHALES OR ROOF SLATES. 
 
 The shales are mostly a compound of the finest particles of matter, 
 deposited in such a way that they are generally laminated in thin 
 sheets, probably a result of periodical influences. If the movement 
 of depression, marked by the formation of the shales, has been as slow 
 as all the appearances lead us to believe it, the water raised above the 
 marshes, was at first nearly of the same depth, and covered the whole 
 field. If we suppose that some essential elements of this water had the 
 power of consolidating themselves, and of imbedding and preserving 
 all the low plants and the leaves falling on the marshes from the trees; 
 if we suppose further, that by breaking the hardened mould, we could 
 still now find the remains of those plants perfectly well preserved in the 
 stones, we cannot but admit that those prints of plants Would give us 
 a pretty exact idea of the Vegetation of the marshes of the coal epoch. 
 It is just what has happened. Whenever, during the formation of 
 the shales, the movement of depression has been so slow that for a 
 length of time the marine water has not invaded the marshes, the de- 
 posited shales contain remains of plants only ; but when the depres* 
 sion has been somewhat more rapid, the deeper water has arrested the 
 vegetation, and the scantily preserved remains of plants are old, much 
 broken, mostly stems, fruits, and pieces of bark of a hard texture, 
 mixed with some shells. 
 
 The presence of the shells in the shales, proves the access of the 
 marine water; it is ordinarily accompanied with some fucoid plants 
 and fishes. The fucoid plants are generally scarce in the coal slates, 
 and the shells, though often represented by an immense number of 
 individuals, are limited to a few species, which differ from those of the 
 limestone, and seem to be of the kind generally living in the contact of 
 the tides with the fresh water of the lakes or rivers. The slow propa- 
 gation of those species lead us to suppose that they were distributed 
 on a vast area, upon the beds where their remains are found. There- 
 fore, if we can admit, that after the formation of each bed of coal, 
 either the plants, or the animals that lived in the water which covered 
 them, were of peculiar species, or at least that some species of plants 
 or shells have either appeared for the first time in each bed of shale, 
 or that identical species have been distributed in each of them in a 
 different proportion, it is evident that the examination of the top or" 
 roof shales of the coal, and the study of their remains, whether plants 
 
516 PALfflONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 or shells, must give the most reliable character for the identification of 
 the beds of coal. 
 
 There is no doubt, but after the formation of each bed of coal all the 
 plants, and the animals belonging to it, have been destroyed, or at 
 least removed far away. The vegetation of the marshes has been cov- 
 ered by thick bed of shales; the shales themselves, with their own in- 
 habitants, have been again covered either by marine deposits of lime- 
 stone, showing the remains of other peculiar species of organized be- 
 ings, or by sandstone swept in by the high sea, and entirely destitute 
 of animal remains. But even, when a bed of coal has again been 
 formed over the marine shales, without any intermediate stratum, the 
 formation of the fire-clay and the vegetation of the coal, both entirely 
 barren of marine animals, both indicate a condition of things and a 
 lapse of time which would, in all probability, have destroyed even 
 their germs. If then, after the formation of a new bed of coal, and 
 after an immense number of years, the downward movement of the 
 surface brings again over it, the marine water and its inhabitants, is it 
 rational to expect that this water will be still charged with the same 
 species of animals as before, and that those animals will be distributed 
 in the same proportion? Is it even rational to suppose, that all the cir- 
 cumstances producing the overflowing will be the same, with the same 
 proportion in the quantity of marine water, the same chemical ele- 
 ments, the same depth, the same temperature, &c, &c. If there is on- 
 ly a small change of the elements dissolved in the water, (and truly, 
 all the shales at different levels present different appearances,) it is cer- 
 tain that this change ought to have influenced the life, viz: the distri- 
 bution of animals in the shales. 
 
 It is even so with the plants. The surface of a marsh having been 
 overflowed, and its vegetation destroyed, we cannot but admit that if it 
 begins again in a new sheet of water, arid after a number of centuries, 
 the distribution of this new vegetation will be somewhat different from 
 the former. If there are no new species of plants, and certainly 
 there ought to be some, at least some of the former p lants have 
 entirely disappeared and those which have been left are grouped 
 in another proportion. Nature bears in one hand its scythe 
 of death, and in the other its cup of life. At every geological change 
 that closes the career of some living species, there appear some others, 
 that were prepared for existence and begin their mission. And although 
 
PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 517 
 
 human life is limited to a day, in comparison with the innumerable 
 ages of our world, we can sometimes observe those changes, and even 
 analyze their causes. In the peat bogs of some high valleys of Switz- 
 erland, the bottom of the marshes is strewn with large trunks of oaks, 
 and there the climate is so cold now, that the pines alone can grow. 
 In Denmark this change of vegetation is also remarkably observed in 
 deep bogs, which the proprietors find profitable to dry with hydraulic 
 machines for the timber which they exhume. One of the most remark- 
 of them has been explored and described, more than ten years ago, by 
 the writer of this report* as its bottom, over the fire-clay, was first 
 found four or five feet of very black peat, overlaid by a forest of pines, 
 lying in the direction of the dip of the basin, viz : their roots against 
 the sides. The diameter of many of their trunks was about one foot. 
 Over the pines a bed of black peat, five to six feet thick, was still cov- 
 ered by an overthrown forest of white birch trees. A new bed of peat, 
 six to eight feet thick, had buried it under its formation, and was over- 
 laid by a third forest of oaks, of which the trunks, three to four feet 
 in diameter, were so well preserved that they were sawed on the place 
 and used for timber. Over this lay five to six feet more of peatj and 
 the whole deposite was covered with humus, and a living forest of 
 beach trees. The whole formation measured about thirty feet. 
 
 Along the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi river there has been 
 deposited here and there, in different places, a quaternary formation re- 
 markable for its thickness. Near Columbus, Kentucky, it elevates its 
 white banks 160 feet above the level of the Mississippi river. | In its 
 upper bed — a fine silicious loam — there is an abundance of shells, 
 which, except one species, are still found living in the river below. 
 This single species, either entirely disappeared or transported to some 
 distant region, is sufficient to prove that if a new bed of loam was de- 
 posited now above the one mentioned, a close observer would already 
 find a difference in their fossils. The lower bed of this quaternary de- 
 posit contains a quantity of leaves, already carbonized, the outlines of 
 which are perfectly well preserved in the hardened white clay. Among 
 them, the predominant species is an oak, (quercus virens), which, in 
 our times, has its peculiar station along the shores of the ocean, and 
 
 •Explorations in the north of Europe, for the study of the coal formations. (Neuchatel, 
 1846.) 
 t First report on the Geological Survey of Kentucky. 
 
518 PAL-EONTOLOGIOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 scarcely grows out of the reach of marine water. There is in those re- 
 mains of fossil plants very few of the species now living along the 
 Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. A new deposit of leaves, now, would 
 show a great difference between the vegetation of this last with the for- 
 mer one. Such difference in the recent formations may be observed 
 in many places. From this it seems rational to admit, that two beds 
 of coal, separated by various and sometimes thick strata of another 
 nature, ought to present certain differences, in the remains preserved^ 
 their shale — some peculiar character which may enable a palaeontolo- 
 gist to identify each of them, or to know their geological level at eve- 
 ry place where it is possible to see them open for a careful examina- 
 tion. 
 
 Though the exposition of those principles is new, the best living 
 geologists — Lyell, Brongnart, Burat, &c. &c. — have acknowledged 
 their truth. For they have admitted that the palaeontology of the 
 shales would in time direct the identification of each bed of coal. M. 
 de Humboldt, himself, says in his Cosmos : " That where several series 
 of coal strata lie over one another, the genera and species of plants 
 are net generally mixed, but arranged in a peculiar order for each bed." 
 
 The roof shales are subjected to some variation like the other for- 
 mation, but they are rarely liable to modifications that, can prevent 
 their identification. Their thickness varies according to the depth of 
 the water in which they are found. This depth of water, as we have 
 before stated, would be nearly the same through the whole extent of 
 a coal basin, if there had not happened some local depressions, caused 
 either by volcanic commotions or by peculiar sinkings of the floating 
 mass of vegetation. Those local depressions have caused the separa- 
 tion of a bed of coal into two or more branches^ and sometimes its en- 
 tire disappearance amoDg high banks of black shales. Such cases are 
 not very rare. Then the shales, though thick, being of the same age, 
 and their inhabitants not having been subjected to any destructive 
 change, they preserve identity in their fossil remains. 
 
 A short depression, or perhaps an accidental inundation of short du- 
 ration, makes upon marshes the beginning of a formation of shales, 
 which, if it is soon stopped by a new vegetation, produces in the bed 
 of coal a separation or a clay parting. As these partings are formed 
 upon the surface of a vegetable stratum, they ought to be generally 
 
PALE0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 51 9 
 
 on a large scale, and follow the same rules as the shales. They may 
 also thicken, or entirely disappear, or accidentally separate into two or 
 three branches. 
 
 The shales may be wanting, either from erosion, or from the uphea- 
 val of a part of the surface above the water, or from the more active 
 growth of the vegetable matter in a peculiar spot. The two last caus- 
 es are scarcely observed: the first and more frequent one shall be 
 mentioned again with the sandstone. Generally speaking, the absence 
 of thft shales is local, and ordinarily, even where they seem to be en- 
 tirely wanting, if the mine be worked to any extent, they are discov- 
 ered in some places. 
 
 4th. THE LIMESTONE. 
 
 This formation can be regarded as a continuance, and sometimes as 
 an equivalent, of the shales, since it is established only in an undis- 
 turbed sheet of deep marine water, by the continuous labor of marine 
 animals, especially moluscs, and by the decomposition and accumula- 
 tion of their remains. The essential reason of its formation, viz: 
 deep, quiet, marine water, is nevertheless a cause of great variety — 
 not in its chemical elements, perhaps, but in its persistency, its thick- 
 ness, and its general distribution. It is often found in the Coal Meas- 
 ures in an unfinished state, in irregular masses, which can scarcely 
 take the name of beds, so limited are they. For this reason the lime- 
 stone, by its presence above a bed of coal, is scarcely a reliable guide 
 for identification. 
 
 As long as the shales of the coal were deposited in low water, the 
 influence of the sea, especially its currents, were scarcely appreciable. 
 But in the limestone formation it is very visible indeed. The unequal 
 distribution of the matter, and especially the remarkable erosions of 
 the beds or isolated masses of it, are due to slow currents. 
 
 The limestone of the western coal-fields of America, contain a great 
 amount of organic remains, plants, shells, or fishes. But the plants 
 cannot give a reliable criterion for the geological level of each peculiar 
 strata, since all the remains found till now are only broken, deformed, 
 and undeterminable parts of stems, with few marine fucoids. The re- 
 mains of shells and fishes would probably afford some reliable data for 
 tracing the geological level of the beds of limestone. They are only 
 too numerous in their species, and have neyer been subjected to a 
 
520 PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 careful study. The animals of the limestone belong, evidently, to the 
 sea, and are brought in with it. In a change of level they are des- 
 troyed as individuals, not as species. Nevertheless, after a length of 
 time, a new invasion of the sea ought to bring with it, upon the coal- 
 fields, other species, since its neighboring sea and its inhabitants ought 
 to have been subjected to changes. 
 
 Thick beds of limestone, interposed in many places between beds of 
 coal and shales, offer the most certain indications of the slowness of 
 the oscillations in the level of the coal-fields at the time of their for- 
 mation. Not only the great number of species — the myriads of ani- 
 mals of which the remains have been literally heaped together — but the 
 introduction of madrepores, and their constructions, marked in the 
 limestone strata, call for an inconceivable length of time. 
 
 5th. THE SANDSTONE. 
 
 In its general appearance, thickness, and composition, this formation 
 is the most unreliable of all. A substance, of which the elements 
 have been transported and intermixed by currents, can never be an 
 homogeneous one, especially when these currents are abnormal, the re- 
 sult of a cataclysm, and have exercised their action over a very extend- 
 ed surface, following numerous diversified phenomena. The move- 
 ments of the waters, which have brought and deposited the sand, are 
 made appreciable not only by the nature of the strata, but by traces 
 of remarkable erosions. ' In some places the immediate contact of the 
 sandstone with the coal cannot be explained but by an erosion of the 
 beds of shales and limestones which were extended upon it. Even the 
 coal has been sometimes swept away, then bruised, and deposited again 
 with the sand by the energetic action of those turbulent waters. Beds 
 of hard sandstone are so blackened by the broken fragments of coal 
 and plants, with which they are intermixed, that they cannot be used 
 for building purposes. No wonder that such mighty currents have 
 dragged with them, and buried under heaps of sand, large trunks of 
 trees, torn from the dry land of the shores, or from the forests of the 
 marshes; or that they sometimes entombed in their ponderous deposits 
 parts of forests, which are still now found standing and petrified like 
 the pillars of some old Babylon of trees. 
 
 From this we may conclude, that the remains of vegetation found in 
 the beds of sandstone cannot show, generally speaking, their geologi- 
 
PALiEONTO LOGIC AL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 521 
 
 cal level. Beds of sandstone appear, particularly marked with the 
 remains of broken plants. It may be that by a mighty cataclysm, 
 immense marshes, covered with trees, have been entirely swept over, 
 and that their remains, bruised and ground by a prolonged action of the 
 waves, have eventually been carried and deposited over the whole area 
 of the basin. It may be, also, that the large trunks, either standing 
 or heaped up together, in some parts of the coal-fields, where they are 
 found now in great abundance, bear evidence of a general and remarka- 
 ble cataclysm; and that they may thus indicate a constant geological lev- 
 el in their position. Some incomplete observations tend to confirm this 
 supposition, but they are still too scanty, and need to be pursued over 
 a wide area. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to explain why, in the beds of sandstone, 
 the trunks of trees are mostly petrified, preserving their general out- 
 line, and not flattened as in the coal. Not only the sand is too porous 
 a matter to prevent entirely the access of the air, but its mineral ele- 
 ments have exerted a constant action on the woody matter, and des- 
 troyed it entirely, or taken its place, leaving only its outline carved 
 like a mould in, the stone. Or they have transformed it to some 
 stony substance — -either silex or carbonate of lime and spar — preserv- 
 ing thus partially, not only the external features, but even the internal 
 structure of the wood, to the most delicate fibres and vessels. 
 
 It has been asked many times, why, siuce the sandstone is a narine 
 formation, it does not contain any shells, any remains of marine aui- 
 mals 1 Indeed, this question would be unanswerable if we were to 
 suppose that the materials carried by the sea had formed its bottom,. 
 This supposition is not inadmissible. Though the depression of an imi 
 mense plain near the sea shores would take it below the level of the 
 water, it could not raise the bottom of the sea, and spread its sand, 
 over it. But every one knows that the sea shores are every where 
 bordered by hills of sand, sometimes several hundred feet high, and, 
 extening many miles, like huge inland waves. Near the mouth of 
 the Elbe and of the Rhine, those hills penetrate the country for hun- 
 dreds of miles. The sand of which they are composed — coarse or 
 fine — is sometimes mixed with gravel 3 but contains no shells or ani? 
 mal remains. Such sand hills have probably furnished the materials 
 for the sandstones of the Coal Measures; at least this is to me the only 
 
 satisfactory explanation of their formation and composition. 
 66 
 
522 
 
 PAL^IONTOLOGICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 The other rocks of the Coal Measures, like the deposits of iron, 
 under their different forms and compounds, are purely local, and have 
 no relation to our subject, viz : the identification of coal veins by pa- 
 laeontology. The discussion of their formation and distribution would 
 be out of place here. 
 
 To conclude these preliminary remarks, we need only expose, in a 
 few words, the general rules which are drawn from them : 
 
 1st. The black shales, immediately resting upon abed of coal, viz: 
 the roof shales, furnish, by their remains of fossil plants, shells, and 
 fishes, the most reliable indications for the identification of their ge- 
 ological level. 
 
 2d. The remains of plants give for this the best characters, since the 
 vegetation of the coal beds was more generally and uniformly distri- 
 buted on large surfaces, and since the plants, by their progressive modi- 
 fications, are subject to atmospherical influence, and also to the chem- 
 ical changes of the water. 
 
 3d. The geological distribution of the plants or shells cannot be 
 modified in a sudden and striking manner at each change of level. 
 Therefore, the presence or absence of a species in the shales may be 
 accidental, and cannot be a conclusive evidence of a change of level, 
 except after a long and careful examination over a wide area. The 
 grouping of fossil species in the shales and its variations, afford a more 
 reliable indication than the presence or absence of a single species. 
 
 This sufficiently shows the difficulty of the work of identification, 
 in a country where a small number of beds of coal have been opened and 
 worked, and where palseontological researches have been scarcely begun ; 
 in fact, this report is only the introduction to an important work, 
 which ought to be pursued with interest by every true geologist, for 
 the history and perfect acquaintance, not only of the coal fields in 
 their general features, but of every bed of coal in particular. But it 
 must be said, that a collection of specimens, made only for the beauty 
 and the great number of specimens for show, is of little use. It ought 
 to be made with a careful record of the place, and, if possible, of the 
 true geological level in which the fossil remains are found. And thus 
 it may, by and by, help to solve some of the most interesting problems 
 of the formation of the coal, viz : 
 
 Is there any true marine formation of the coal ? From long explo- 
 rations pursued in Europe and in America, the writer says, contrary to 
 
PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT' OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 523 
 
 many assertions, that there does not exist a bed of true marine peat, 
 viz: peat formed entirely of fucoides and marine plants; and that he 
 has never seen a piece of coal with evident marks of marine origin. 
 
 Have all our American coal-fields been formed in a continuous basin, 
 or is there any local one with an appreciable difference in the flora and 
 fauna of the shales ? 
 
 Is there any trace of a permanent current of fresh water, of some 
 river having flowed either through the coal-fields during some time of 
 their formation, or in their vicinity ? 
 
 Were the coal-fields the first land surface protruded like an island 
 from the sea, or were they true marshes, low shores of a continent, of 
 which the outlines had been already elevated above the ocean ? 
 
 These are not the only questions that are to be answered. Beside 
 the mere practical advantage to be derived from the palaeontology of 
 coal, there is the nature of the vegetation, its relation to the atmos- 
 pherical phenomena of the epoch, its comparison with the flora of our 
 peat formations, and also with the coal flora of other continents, and 
 many other subjects, which open up to the geologist a most inter*- 
 esting field for the exercise of the mind. 
 
524 
 
 PAL.2E0NT0LOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Horizontal exposition of the different coal beds examined in the western coal 
 
 field of Kentucky. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 12. f 
 
 Airdrie 2 
 t. 8 in. rash 
 1.4 coal. 
 
 m i, 
 
 A. Town's 
 
 rash coal, 
 
 It? 
 
 •fear Curds 
 ville, Gin. 
 rash coal. 
 
 Near 
 ^urdssillej 
 4 ft. coal. 
 
 McJMary's 
 
 4 ft. rash 
 
 coal. 
 
 ■ 
 
 Peaks of 
 Otter, 4 ft. 
 raph coal. 
 
 fSHMJM 
 Pigeon 
 
 Run, 2 (t. 
 
 rash coal. 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 11. 
 
 Airdrie 
 6 ft. coal. 
 
 A. Town's 
 6 ft. coal. 
 
 McNary's 
 7 ft. coal. 
 
 B. Sisk,6 
 feet. 
 
 Pigeon 
 Run,. 8 ft. 
 
 Provi- 
 dence, 6 ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 10. 
 
 
 Seen 
 
 only 
 
 at 
 
 Shawnee 
 
 town. 
 
 • . 
 
 Coal 
 No. 9. 
 
 Hi 
 
 Airdrie 
 4>£ feet. 
 
 BSKSag 
 
 MM 
 
 A Town's 
 5 feet. 
 
 
 m 
 
 McN'ary^s 
 4)4 feet. 
 
 Gamblin, 
 A% feet. 
 
 sSSH 
 
 Jaketield, 
 4)4 feet. 
 
 Captain 
 Wings, 2 ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 8. 
 
 
 Not 
 
 seen. 
 
 
 
 
 .... i 
 
 Coal 
 No. 7. 
 
 
 m 
 
 A- Town's 
 
 black band 
 
 coal. 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 6. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 5. 
 
 
 Not 
 
 seen. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 4. 
 
 
 Not 
 
 seen. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 2. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 1 6. 
 
 Bell 5 ft. 
 
 Cook 5 ft. 
 
 Casey 4 ft 
 
 BsSgS 
 
 Old distil- 
 lery 3 ft? 
 
 .' / 
 
 
 
 Union Co. 
 3 feet. 
 
 mi 
 
 Mnwes- 
 ville, 4 ft. 
 
 Breckin- 
 ridge, 3 ft. 
 
PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPOET OP GEOLOGICAL BtJEVEY. 
 
 525 
 
 Horizontal exposition of the different coed beds examined in the wet tern coal 
 
 Jield of Kentucky. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 12. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 11. 
 
 Watson's, 
 6 feet. 
 
 Thompson 
 6 ft. 
 
 Arnold's, 
 8 ft. 
 
 Miller's, 
 6 ft. 
 
 Bonharbor, 
 Sft. 
 
 Curlew, 
 3 ft. 
 
 Mulford, 
 3 ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 10. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 9. 
 
 Isaac 
 Luce's, 4 ft. 
 
 Hartford, 
 2 ft. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Lewispjrt, 
 4 ft. 
 
 Henderson, 
 4.3 
 
 
 Curlew, 
 5 ft. 
 
 Hi 
 
 Muliord, 
 5 ft. 
 
 Coal 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 Coal 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 6. 
 
 
 HHMH 
 
 m 
 
 Barrett's, 
 4 ft. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mulford, 
 3 ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 5. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 4. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coal 
 No. 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mulford, 
 2^ ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 2. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mulford, 
 I ft. 
 
 Coal 
 No. 1 6. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mulford, 
 m ft. 
 
526 PALJEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Examination of some veins in the Western Goal-fields of Kentucky, in 
 relation to their palceontblogical characters. 
 
 As during the time of our explorations we passed over different parts 
 of the country, with a continuous change of level, any description of 
 the veins of coal, in the order in which they came under our observa- 
 tion, would be not only an arduous task, full of useless repetitions, but, 
 by constantly transporting the reader to a different geological level, 
 would confuse his mind about his exact position. The better plan,, 
 therefore, is to admit as correct a vertical section of the western coal- 
 fields, and, beginning from the bottom of the measures, take each bed 
 in the order of formation; then, describing the general characters of 
 oach of those beds, and mentioning afterwards all the places where the 
 same coal has come under our examination, with the local and peculiar 
 differences of each. In this way all will be clear, and a single glance 
 at the horizontal section No. 1, will show, at once, the localities, with 
 their true geological level, and suggest, at the same time, to the reader, 
 precise conclusions with regard to the probable position of other beds 
 of coal, and enable him to make other deductions for the greater cer- 
 tainty of future researches. 
 
 No. 1. Yertical diagram of your first report, from Anvil Rock 
 down to Battery Rock, is certainly the best that can be made, and, with 
 some local changes, it will prove reliable in all the extent of the west- 
 ern coal-fields of Kentucky. Following your suggestions, we will ad- 
 mit the nomenclature of the veins of it, as follows: 
 
 Beginning at the base of the measures, and omitting Battery-rock 
 coal — a view which is scarcely developed any where in Kentucky — 
 our No. 1 coal takes the place of both Cook coal, and 7th Bell's coal, 
 indicating their probable relative position by A and B — No. 1, B, 
 being the Bell's coal. The reason why both those veins are united in 
 the same number, will be apparent hereafter. Our No. 2 is a thin coal, . 
 marked on the diagram between two shales with iron stone. No. 3 is 
 the 6th, or Ice-house coal of the diagram. No. 4 the Curlew coal. No. 
 5 four foot bed. No. 6, the little vein. No. 7, a thin coal above it. No. 
 8, Well coal. No. 9, 8d or five-foot Mulford coal. No. 10, 2d or 
 middle coal. No. 11, the first coal under Anvil Rock. No. 12 the true 
 first bed below Anvil Rock, in Hopkins and Muhlenburg counties, 
 omitted in the diagram, because it is scarcely developed in Union 
 county. 
 
PAL.3E0KT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 527 
 
 Battery-rock coal. Though in the eastern coal-fields some workable 
 beds of coal have been found, not only in and below the conglomerates, 
 but even in the red sandstone, there is not, apparently, in the 
 western coal-fields of Kentucky, a true bed of coal formed in this 
 position. Opposite Caseyville, below the conglomerate rocks, hang- 
 ing over the landing on the Illinois side, there is a thin black 
 shale, itermixed with thin layers of coaly matter. This shale does not 
 contain any fossils. The same shale has been reached at Caseyville, 
 by boring a well below the conglomerates ; but it does not contain any 
 trace of coal, neither did the shales, though of soft texture and nearly 
 black, show any remains of fossils of any kind. In Pennsylvania, the 
 shales of the bituminous eoal, or of the anthracite, exposed below 
 the conglomerates, contain specimens of large pieces of Catamites and 
 Lepidodendron. 
 
 No. 1 Coal. Above the conglomerates, and often reposing on them, 
 there is a thick formation of black shales, varying in thickness from 
 20 to 70 feet, or more. It sometimes contains two beds of coal, one 
 well developed, from 3 to 6 feet thick, and a thin one below. General- 
 ly the position of the large bed No. 1, B, depends on the thickness of 
 the shales. From the topographical observations it ought to be 70 
 feet above No. 1, A. But the palaeontology of the opened coal, topo- 
 graphically indicated as No. 1, A, having proved exactly the same as 
 those indicated as No. 1, B, the only conclusion to which I can come 
 is this, either in the western coal-fields of Kentucky there is a single 
 bed of coal, formed in the shales above the conglomerates, and then, 
 No. 1, A, and No. 1, B, are the same; (this is my settled opinion;) 
 or the palseontological characters of the shales are the same in their 
 whole thickness, which is scarcely possible. In Pennsylvania, where 
 the bed of shales contains two, and sometimes three, seams of coal, the 
 shales of each peculiar bed of coal present a different appearance, and 
 different fossil plants are found in connection with them. These fossil 
 plants are especially the prints of the bark of large trees, Sigillaria, 
 Catamites, especially Lepidodendron, (pi. 7, figs. 1, 4, 10); the cones 
 of these last trees, Lepidostrobi, (pi. 7, fig. 3 ;) many other fruits of the 
 genera Trigonocarpon, Cardiocarpon, and Carpolithes, (pi. 7, figs. 5 to 
 9.) These fruits are generally compressed, resembling flattened al- 
 
528 PALiEONTOLOGlCAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 monds, peanuts, or peas.* The ferns imbedded in the shales are gen- 
 erally of the largest species. The genus Sphenopieris, (pi. 6, fig. 1,) 
 is represented in this low coal by most of its species, which are scarce- 
 ly found above it, and some large Teeopteris, especially Tecopteris lon- 
 cMtica, (pi. 6, fig. 3,) belong also to this bed only. Neuropteris her' 
 suta, &c, (pi. 6, fig. 4,) is generally found in the shales; but this 
 plant appears in the whole thickness of the Coal Measures, as well in 
 Europe as in America. We mention it only to prevent mistaking it 
 as the characteristic plant of a certain level, or admitting, for peculiar 
 species, the numerous forms of its curious leaves scarcely ever found 
 attached to the stems. These leaves are ordinarily Janceolate-oval, 
 with a heart-shaped base, and have two small round kidney-shaped 
 leaflets attached at its base, but sometimes they become either large, 
 and nearly round, (Ci/clopteris,) or narrow lance-shaped, or palmately 
 cut in two or three linear divisions. Since its surface is ordinarily 
 strewn with scattered hairs, all these forms can easily be referred to 
 their species. 
 
 It has been asserted by many that Stigmari a ficoides, (pi. 7, figs. "2 
 and 2a,) is a plant, or rather a root, found in the fire-clay only, where it 
 has sprung, supporting the trees that have formed the coal above it. 
 This is a great mistake, which would be corrected by a single look at 
 our bed, No. 1 coal, where the coal itself, and the shales above it, con- 
 tain most abundant specimens of those Stigmaria. 
 
 A remarkable peculiarity of the black shales of this coal is, that 
 they contain, also, in immense numbers, the remains of a single spe- 
 cies of shell, a small oval Lingula (Litigula umbonata,) which, by its 
 appearance, indicates the first traces of the marine element in the 
 shales. A few badly decayed leaves of ferns, and the Lepidostrobi, 
 (pi. 7, figs. 3, 5, 6,) are found on the same shales with the shells, evi- 
 dently showing that the vegetation had not entirely disappeared when 
 the marine water began to cover the marshes. This small Lingula, 
 always the only shell found at the same geological level in the shales, 
 not only in all the beds of the first coal in western Kentucky, but in 
 Ohio, at Nelsonville and other places; in Virginia, at great Kanawha 
 Salines; in Pennsylvania, at Rochester, Johnstown, &c; indicates 
 
 *Tbis description is given only to facilitate the comprehension, but not at all as a scientific 
 and real one. The fruits of the coal, though their appearance may sometimes be the same, 
 do not bare, in reality, the slightest analogy with those of our time. 
 
PIXJEOSTOLOGIGAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 529 
 
 the vast range of distribution of this species, and this peculiarity of 
 a vein of coal preserving, in its shales, a palseontological identity, for 
 more than five hundred miles distance in a direct line. 
 
 Bell's mine, Crittenden county, is extensively worked. This bed has 
 a mean thickness of five feet. The coal has ordinarily one or two 
 inches of cannel at the top of the bed. It is mostly covered by thick 
 sandstone shales, full of leaves of Stigmaria, preserved.in their natu- 
 ral round or cylindrical form, and scarcely flattened. These sandstone 
 shales are not the original roof shales, which are generally wanti ig 
 here, but they have accidentally taken their place, after denudation of 
 the first roof. The same case is observable at Minersville, Pa., in the 
 corresponding bed of anthracite, viz : the second bed above the con- 
 glomerates. The true roof shales are seen in some part of the mines 
 at Bell's, and contain Lingula umbonata in abundance. Near the base 
 of the coal there is a thin bed of rash-coal, containing well preserved 
 specimens of Lepidodendron, Sig'llaria, and Stigmaria. This rash- 
 coal is certainly a peculiar and reliable character, and has been seen at 
 all the places where we had opportunity to examine No. 1 coal — always 
 containing laminated bark of Lepidodedron and Catamites. It is also 
 well marked in the coal fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania, at the same 
 geological level. 
 
 Half a mile southeast of Bell's we were shown the old opening of a 
 vein previously worked, but now abandoned. They called it Cook's 
 vein, and said that it was at a different level from Bell's, viz; about 70 
 feet below. The palseontological remains of the shales prove that this 
 supposition is a mistake. The roof-shales of this coal are the same 
 thick sandstone shales, full of Stigmaria, as at Bell's, and the bottom 
 has the rash-coal, with the Lepidodendron. We did not explore the in- 
 terior of this vein, which is full of water, but the characters were evi- 
 dent enough in the shales heaped at its mouth. 
 
 Between Bell's and Tradewater river, the same vein has been 
 opened and worked, and there also we found the sandstone shales, with 
 round Stigmaria, and the rash coal with Lepidodendron. 
 
 Casey's mine, on the west side of Tradewater river, has its roof 
 shales more developed than Bell's, and shows, in their composition, all 
 the essential characters of the coal on this level. The black slates of 
 the coal contain not only a great abundance of Lingula umbonata, but 
 
 67 
 
530 PALfllONTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 
 
 also tbe fruits of Lepidodendron, viz : Lepidostrobus, and its detached 
 leaves Lepidophyllum. The rash coal at the bottom has the Lepido- 
 dendron, Stigmaria, and Catamites in abundance, and the coal itself is 
 topped as at Bell's, by one or two inches of cannel. Moreover, at 
 some places in the mines the black shale is wanting, and its place is 
 taken by the sandstone shales with round leaves of Stigmaria. The 
 distance between the two mines of Casey's and Bell's being short, a 
 few miles only — the exact resemblance of the shales and of the fossil 
 remains, is not a remarkable coincidence; but it is otherwise when we 
 compare the fossils with those found at the same geological level in far 
 distant localities. We have seen that the Lingula abounds in many 
 places in the low coal of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Lepidostrobus 
 has, till now, never been found but in the corresponding low coal at 
 Johnstown, at the base of Portage Railroad, in the bituminous coal- 
 fields of Pennsylvania, and at Wilkesbarre, in the anthracite basin. 
 The presence of those fruits or cones, in the same shales as the Lingula, 
 evidently shows that they were the last remains of the vegetation of 
 this coal, and that they had been detached from some trees still stand- 
 ing above the shallow water, and living in it when the vegetation of 
 the surface had already disappeared. 
 
 Old Distillery coal, just above Casey ville, has its place at the same 
 level, evidently marked by the abundance of Lepidodendron in the 
 rash coal of the bottom, and by the Lingula and Stigmaria in the 
 shales of the roof. That there may be near by the same place, a shaft 
 to a lower bed of coal, is possible. But we did not see it, and the po- 
 sition of this coal of the Old Distillery, would scarcely lead to the 
 supposition of another bed of coal below it. 
 
 A recently opened vein, one and a half miles north of Caseyville, 
 on the property of the Kentucky Coal Company, though supposed to 
 be also at a lower level, afforded another favorable opportunity of test- 
 ing the value of a palseontological identification. We found this coal 
 covered with a shaly sandstone, full of Stigmaria, and by three to four 
 inches of black shales, with Lepidodendron and Lepidostrobus. Its 
 thickness is only two feet six inches. It has some 'cannel at its top, 
 and a rashy bottom, with fine remains of Lepidodendron, Catamites 
 pnd Stigmaria- 
 
PALifiONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 531 
 
 Opposite Caseyville, on the Illinois side of the Ohio river, there is 
 a bed of coal belonging to Dr. Long, which, following topographical 
 indications, is placed below the conglomsrates, and indicated as Batte- 
 ry-rock coal. This coal is, without doubt, above the conglomerates, 
 and from the plants and fossil remains of the roof shales, is the same 
 as our No. 1 . The appearance of the shales is, however, different. 
 The marine element being less predominent, the sh lies grayish col- 
 ored, and full of well preserved remains of plants. The whole flora of 
 the low coal is there — Stigmaria, Lepidodendron, Lepidostrobus, and ma- 
 ny other fruits, with large leaves of ferns, especially Peeopteris lonchitica. 
 As the bed is not worked, and the shales are very brittle, we had to 
 study them on the place, and it was not possible to collect good speci- 
 mens, except a very large and well preserved root of Stigmaria. 
 
 At Union mines, Crittenden county, twenty miles below Caseyville, 
 the characteristic fossils of No. 1 coal, are still more numerous, and in 
 a better state of preservation. The shales there are thick and well 
 developed. First, the sandstone shales, with Stigmaria; then, in 
 some places above the coal, the black shales, with Lepidostrobus and 
 the Lingula ; and still oftener, the gray soft shales, full of plants, espe- 
 cially Peeopteris lonchitica and Sphenopteris. The coal itself is ordi- 
 narily topped by a few inches of cannel, and its bottom has always the 
 rash coal, with the same remains of plants, as we have enumerated be- 
 fore. The shales at Union mine would have afforded a good opportu- 
 nity for collecting and studying a great number of species of fossil 
 plants, had they not been softened by rain, and our specimens nearly 
 all broken by transportation. The species which were left entire 
 enough to be just distinguishable, are the following : 1. Alethopteris 
 sinuata, BrgH. 2. Alethopteris lonchitica, Brg't. 3. Sphenopteris 
 tridactilites, Brg't. &. Spenopteris intermedia, Lsq'x. 5. Asterophil- 
 lites avails, Lsq'x. 6. Calamites Suckovii, Brg't. 7. Lepidodendron 
 polilum, Sp. Nov. 8. Two other species of Lepidodendron, (broken.) 
 9. Lepidophloios rugosus, Lsq'x. 10. Lycopodites Sticlerianus. Gopp ? 
 
 Ilawesvilte coal. Passing to the eastern part of the western coal- 
 fields of Kentucky, we had first a good opportunity of exploring the 
 lowest bed of coal at Hawesville, Hancock county, where it is exten- 
 sively worked. The coal, three feet ten inches to four feet thick, is 
 cannel at the top, and reposes upon six inohea of rash coal, containing 
 
532 PALEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 still the same plants — Lepidodendron, Catamites, and Stigmaria. The 
 black shales above the coal are full of Lingula umbonata, and have also 
 some remains of broken plants, especially Lepidostrobus, of which we 
 obtained good specimens at Mayo's vein. In connection with this 
 bed, and above it, are also the gray shales, with a few fern leaves of 
 the same species, as at Union mines. 
 
 About seventy feet above the main coal at Hawesville, there is, fol- 
 lowing the assertions of Mr. Taylor, director of the mines, a bed of 
 rash coal, with large stems of Catamites and Lepidodendron. It ought 
 to be separated from the main coal by thirty feet of sandstone shales, 
 and thirty feet of black shales, containing the above mentioned fossil 
 shells and plants. Does this rash cod, if its position is exactly mark- 
 ed, indicate the place of another bed of coal, or is it still a continuance 
 of the interrupted black shales which, at some places, are seventy feet 
 thick ? Or, perhaps, has it been displaced by one of the numerous 
 faults which break the level of the Hawesville vein ? These Are ques- 
 tions that remain to be solved. 
 
 Breckinridge coat The appearance and chemical composition of this 
 coal would indicate, for this vein, a far different level. Nevertheless, 
 a short examination of the fossil plants of the shales, suffices to ascer- 
 tain that its geological position is the same as that of the Hawesville. 
 The coal, twenty-eight to thirty inches thick, is entirely cannel, and 
 full of stems and leaves of Stigmaria, the outlines of which have been 
 preserved by sulphuret of iron. Under it the rash coal is seen, with 
 its Lepidodendron, Catamites, and Stigmaria, and it is topped by a 
 heavy bed of black bituminous shales, with Lingula umbonata, and 
 some specimens of decayed fern leaves. As it generally happens, in 
 very bituminous shales, the plants are scarcely preserved. Their out- 
 line only is indicated here and there, but with such indistinctness that 
 they cannot be exactly determined ; the coal itself, however, has pre- 
 served beautiful prints of Lepidodendron. We have previously men- 
 tioned that the Stigmaria have probably been plants of a strong texture 
 — a kind of creeping roots, especially active in the preparation of the 
 fire-clay. If this were so, they could not contain much bitumen, and 
 yet they are found in abundance, and well preserved in outlines, in the 
 richest oil producing coal of Kentucky, and perhaps of thft, United 
 States. Since it is proved that the Stigmuria> were of the natjire, of 
 
PAL^EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 533 
 
 roots or, as I think, were creeping rootstocks, producing trees under 
 favorable circumstances, their presence in a bed of coal, where they 
 could not creep, as in the water, and where their direction was neces- 
 sarily changed by many circumstances, indicates that there were plen- 
 ty of trees living at the time of the formation of this coal. If the trees 
 had had the same hardened silicious bark as the Stigmaria, their out- 
 line would also have been preserved; but being especially of conifer- 
 ous or resinous species, they have been entirely transfoi med into coal. 
 This shows that the cannel coal results from the abundance of some 
 kinds of trees, especially Sigillaria and Lepidodendron, or perhaps Lepi- 
 dodendron only. Moreover, the chemical composition of some plants, 
 especially of roots, depends on the place where they grow; on the wa- 
 ter which they absorb. The needles or leaves of coniferous trees, for 
 example, living on the limestone, contain only two per cent, of silica, 
 when the same species, living on silicious ground, have as much as five 
 to six per cent, of it. We must therefore suppose, that according to 
 their habitation, the Stigmaria would necessarily show a difference in 
 their composition. 
 
 The analysis of the Breckinridge coal proves, nevertheless, that 
 though it has been formed of resinous trees, since it contains sixty- 
 three per cent, of volatile matter, there were abundantly mixed with it 
 plants highly charged with siliceous matter — the Stigmaria certainly — 
 for it gives by combustion as much as eight per cent, of ashes. 'I he 
 main coal of the Shawneetown Company, at quite a different level, is 
 also very bituminous, doea not show any trace of Stigmaria, and has 
 only one half per cent, of ashes. 
 
 If it had been possible to see at once, and opened, all the beds of 
 the Coal Measures in successive order, the true characteristic fossils of 
 every one of them could perhaps have been examined and described; 
 but in a level country, where the highest hills do not exceed three hun- 
 dred feet, suck an examination is no where possible. In both places 
 where, accordiug to your directions, we could expect to see a succession 
 of coal beds, at different levels, viz; at Shawneetown, and at the Saline 
 Mining Company's works, in Illinois, we had good opportunities to 
 study the fossils of vein Nos, 9, and 11. ,At the Kentucky Coal Com- 
 pany mines, we saw open one bed still lower— No. 6, or Little vein. But 
 we.did not find any place where beds 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8, were opened. 
 
534 PAL-K0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 and their geological level fixed with such certainty that we could take 
 them as a point of comparison for the examination of others. 
 
 Coal No. 2. We have not yet seen this bed satisfactorily in place 
 in Western Kentucky ; in fact, this coal may be united in the west with 
 No. 1, B, since I found at Beaver, at Johnstown, at Nelsonsville, and 
 other places, a coal which I think will prove the equivalent of Lesley's 
 cannel coal C, which contains apparently the same Lingula umbomta 
 as was found in the shales over No. 1, B, of Union county. There 
 appears to be a gradual diminution of the space between this cannel 
 bed C, of Pennsylvania, and the great bed below it going west; for, 
 though at some places in that state the distance is seventy feet, at Zanes- 
 ville, Ohio, it is only twelve feet ; at Hopwelltown, Ohio, five feet; and 
 at Nelsonsville, Ohio, only one foot, and sometimes only four inches. 
 Therefore, it would not be very remarkable if, in Kentucky, it should 
 be united with coal No. 1, B. Moreover, this bed is often wanting 
 either in its separate state or in conjunction with No. 1, B. In the last 
 case, the shales of the coal No. 1, B, are less bituminous, grayish, full 
 of plants only, and without shells. At the Breckinridge mines, it seems 
 to occupy the whole place of No. 1, B, and has influenced its trans- 
 formation into cannel. 
 
 Coal No. 3. Near Mulford*s mines we were shown, as being proba- 
 bly the Ice-house coal, a scarcely opened bed, of which the remarka- 
 bly hard, greyish colored shales were marked with well preserved stems 
 of ferns, especially of Neuropteris Ursula, (pi. 6, fig. 4>) Being un- 
 able to see more of this coal than a few shales, and being uncertain as 
 to its true level, we could make no characteristic and reliable descrip- 
 tion of it. But judging from a palseontological point of view, No. 3 
 coal, seen at Hawesville, is not the same as the one mentioned at Mul- 
 ford, as the probable Ice*house coal. It is much more likely referred 
 to coal D, of Lesley's manual, which is extensively worked at Zanes- 
 ville, (two to four feet thick,) where its shales are full of shells, espe- 
 cially of large Produdus and Spirifer. I should not have a doubt of 
 their being coeval if it was not for the absence of limestone above this 
 <joal at Zanesville, where the eight feet shales are covered with forty 
 feet of sandstone. But the limestone of this coal is a local formation. 
 In his general description of the lower coals, Mr. Lesley indicates a 
 limestone B, separated from coal D by fifty feet shales And even at 
 
PAL.E0NT0L0GICAL report of geological survey. 5B5 
 
 Zanesville, there is above this coal, on the top of Putnam hills, a thin 
 fossiliferous bed of limestone. As for the value of the limestone as a 
 character for identification of the coal beds, a look at both vertical sec- 
 tions, No. 1 and No. 2, of the first report of the Geological Survey of 
 Kentucky, will show its deficiency. The bed of limestone, only four 
 feet thick, of the first diagram, is represented in the second by a heavy 
 formation of two beds of limestone, the one thirty-three feet, and the 
 other eight feet thick, separated by five feet of shales. 
 
 This 3rd coal at Hawesville is about two hundred and ten feet above 
 No. 1, B, the main coal at this place. It has been opened and work- 
 ed for a time and is now abandoned — its thickness being only twenty- 
 two inches. It is covered by a black shale one foot thick, which de- 
 composes in powder under the atmospheric action, and shows no trace 
 of fossils, either shells or plants. Upon the shales there lies another 
 soft and still looser sandy, micaceous, buff-colored shale, insensibly 
 passing into limestone, and full of large Produdus and Spirifer. This 
 shale is like a rotten limestone, and the fossils that it contains, though 
 badly preserved, are easily separated from it. It is overtopped by a 
 bed of limestone. 
 
 Coal No. 4. We had no better opportunity to study this coal than 
 the former, in the coal-fields of western Kentucky. The coal with two 
 clay partings, that is referred by order of superposition to this geolog- 
 ical horizon in Curlew hill, with limestone at a distance of fifteen feet 
 beneath it, I had no opportunity of examining, as the old opening 
 into this coal was entirely filled up, and the roof shales quite inacces- 
 sible. 
 
 At Giger's hill, Union county, we examined a coal three feet thick, 
 with two clay-partings, covered with a bed of five to six feet shales, 
 differently colored, grey or black, becoming soft and finely grained in 
 the proximity of the coal, and entirely covered with prints of Neurop- 
 teris flezuosa, Brt, (pi. 6, fig. 2.) This species, like Neuropteris hir- 
 suta, Lsq'x., is generally too far distributed in the whole thickness of 
 the Coal Measures to afford, by its presence alone, a true reliable char- 
 acter for the geological position of a vein. Though it is most abun- 
 dant in the Pomeroy coal of Ohi -, which would correspond with our coal 
 No, 4> I have found it also in the barren measures between Athens 
 and Marietta, Ohio, above the Pittsburg vein, and even in the shales of 
 
536 PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 a higher level near Greensburg, Penn. In Posey county Indiana, 
 there is a bed of barren shales, abundantly covered with this same 
 plant, which is also in a much higher geological position than the coal 
 No. 4. As there is then some evidence going to show that the coal of 
 Giger's hill occupies a higher position in the Coal Measures, we must 
 leave this for the present undecided, until further data are collected. 
 
 The 4th coal, which has the same geological horizon as the Pomeroy 
 coal of Ohio, and the Gates and Salem vein of Pennsylvania, is gene- 
 rally covered with greyish-black, hard, somewhat micaceous shales, in 
 which the greatest number of species of fossil plants . are preserved. 
 We have already mentioned Neuropteris flexuosa, which is there in the 
 greatest abundance, but it is necessary to name some other species, 
 more or less generally distributed in this bed, and which may serve to 
 its identification in different places of the coal-fields: 1st. Pinnularia — a 
 large confervoid plant, resembling a much branched thread-like root. 
 2nd. A brownish yellow fucoid, of which fragments only are found, 
 detaching easily from the stone, like a thin skin — these are both found 
 especially in the Ohio coal-fields, at Pomeroy and Federal creek. 3rd. 
 Asterophillites — plants resembling' our Horsetails (Equisetacea,) with 
 long whorled branches, bearing, at short and equal distances, whorls of 
 short narrow linear leaves. 4th. Sphenophyllum and* Annularia — 
 floating plants, with whorls of flattened, entire or diversely cut leaflets. 
 5th. Many species of Neuropteris and Pecopteris, especially Neurop- 
 teris finibriata, Lsq'x., and Pecopteris arborescens,~Brt 6th. Flabella- 
 ria boracifolia, Sternb — a plant which, by its long ribbon-like leaves, 
 closely and very finely ribbed, embracing the stem at the base, bears a 
 strong likeness to a species of palm. The stem is seldom found — I ob- 
 tained this year, for the first time, a specimen of it, at Salem vein, of 
 Port-carbon, near Pottsville, Penn.; but the leaves are most abundant 
 in all the shales of this 4th coal, and may be considered a true charac- 
 teristic of it. In the lower beds I have seen some fragments of anoth- 
 er larger species, but none of this. At Giger's we did not find any, 
 and the only species discovered there, except Neuropteris flexuosa, is 
 another fine Neuropteris, probably referable to Neuropteris conjugata, 
 Gopp. This vein has, also, some species of Catamites, Sigillaria, and 
 Stigmaria in its shales, but I never saw in them any Lepidondendron 
 nor Lepidostrobus. 
 
PAL.Ei)NrOLOGIC\L REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 537 
 
 The abundance of fossil plants preserved in this 4th coal, is truly 
 astonishing. At Pomeroy the roof is in some places totally covered 
 with those remains. In some pieces of shales, les3 than half a foot 
 square, taken from Salem vein, at Pottsville, I have counted fifteen to 
 twenty species. It might appear extraordinary that Pomsroy coal of 
 Ohio, and Salem vein, of Pennsylvania, the highest bed of the an- 
 thracite. coal basin, ought to be referred to the same geological level ; 
 but if we believe palaeo ntologic.il evidence, we cannot come to another 
 conclusion, most of the fossil plants being of the same species, and 
 these species being found no where else. Besides, its palseontological 
 characters, No. 4 coal is m irked by its one or two clay partings, 
 which eastwards, become very thick, and form true strati, separating 
 the vein into two or three, and also by the superposition of heavy beds 
 of sandstone. 
 
 Coal No. 5, has not been satisfactorily seen, as the old opening, 
 like that of No. 4, is now entirely filled, and the shales that were taken 
 out not only disintegrated, but mixed up with those of No. 6 goal 
 lying above. 
 
 On section 24, T. 3, R. 2 W., about a mile southeast of the Mul- 
 ford's mines, Mr. Cox examined a coal, and obtained some fossil ferns 
 from its shale roof. These I find to be prints of Neuropteris teneuifo- 
 lla, BrgH., a species so very like Neuropteris flexuosa, Brt., (PI. 6, fig. 
 2,) that is unnecessary to give a drawiug of it. It differs only in the 
 thinness of the veinlets, scarcely visible to the naked eye. This coal 
 vein is cannel at the top, passing insensibly into four feet of black 
 shales, in which the above plants were found. These species of ferns 
 remind me of those which occui in the roof of a bed of anthracite 
 coal, which I examined in Shamokin Valley, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Coal No. 6, has been opened at A-ulford's mines, Union county, 
 Kentucky, where we .first examined it, and where it is called Little 
 vein. The coal is somewhat rashy, mix.d with an abundance of pieces 
 of charcoal, and colored brown with oxide of iron. It. has above 
 it a thin layer of black brittle slates, with i cmains of stems covered 
 by arenaceous, micaceous, yellow, or chocolate colored shales, marked 
 with innumerable remains of much broken, nearly ground up plants. In 
 ascending the bed of shales, they became whitish, passing insensibly 
 into sandstone shales, and the remains of plants m )re and more "pul- 
 
538 PAL^ONTOLOGICAL -REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 verized, cover them in an indistinct mass. Though I cannot name 
 any peculiar species, in connection with this bed of coal, since all the 
 examined remains were too much broken to be recognizable, the gener- 
 al appearance of the shales is peculiar enough to serve as a reliable 
 character. We knew this coal again at first sight when we came to it 
 with Mr. Cox, two and an half miles from Hartford, Ohio county, 
 Kentucky, where it is worked near the Owensboro' road; and still 
 again, lately, while on a tour of exploration in the southern part of 
 the coal basin of Ohio, I knew it at once when I saw it at Steiger's 
 vein, near Athens, and from the inspection of the shales alone, fixed at 
 once its true geological level. 
 
 Coal No. 7, is a thin bed, which we did not see any where in the 
 western coal-fields of Kentucky, but of which we examined the shales 
 exposed in a rivulet on the Saline Coal Company's property, in Illinois. 
 These shales contain a few shells, but particularly some very small 
 scales and teeth of fishes. These teeth are sharp, straight, and of a 
 different form from those found in the beds above. I thought at first 
 that it was not worth while mentioning this coal, since it is generally 
 very thin— for it has been passed through by a shaft at Mulford's, and 
 has been found to be there about thirty inches thick ; at Holloway's 
 boring, near Henderson, its place is occupied by a black shale, with 
 only some trace of coal; and in the Illinois coal-fields, it is only a 
 few inches thick. But though not valuable in a material point of view, 
 this bed becomes important by its characteristic fossils, and its geolo- 
 logical position. Being lately at Athens, on an exploring tour through 
 the coal-fields of southern Ohio, I had the opportunity to survey, on 
 the property of Horace Willson, Esq., a bed of shales which was 
 thought to contain a vein of coal. I collected there teeth and scales 
 of fishes, and after a comparative examination, I found them to be of 
 the same species as those which we collected with Mr. B. T. Cox on 
 the Saline Company's property. This bed of shales near Athens, 
 Ohio, contains only a few inches coal, and its position is about one hun- 
 dred feet below the Pittsburg coal, which is worked somewhat higher 
 in the hills. The identity of both these beds of western Kentucky 
 and Ohio veins, as we said before, is of great importance, since 
 it enables us to point out, with some accuracy, the place that the 
 Pittsburg coal occupies in the western coal-fields. This place, as wa 
 
PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 539 
 
 will show more evidently in the examination of coal No. 9, is very 
 probably the one occupied by the following No. 8, or Well coal. 
 
 Coal No. 8. This coal has been crossed in the shaft at Mulford's, 
 where it is two feet six inches thick. But we could not see it, nor ex- 
 amine any of its shales, as the shaft was not accessible. It has been 
 passed through, also, at the Holloway's boring, and has been mentioned 
 in the survey of the Saline Company, always with the same thickness. 
 This indicates a reliable and extensively formed vein of coal, and for 
 this reason, it is especially to be regretted that we did not find a sin- 
 gle opportunity of comparing the fossils of its shales with those of the 
 great Pittsburg coal. The characteristic plants of this remarkable bed 
 are not well defined. The shales immediately above the coal, are very 
 black, bituminous, and covered with stems of ferns without leaves ; 
 these stems are very numerous, and sometimes heaped together in a 
 confused mass. The vein of coal is divided into two, (rarely three stra- 
 ta,) by clay partings, or shales of various thickness, and it is only 
 above its upper roof shales that some leaves of ferns, especially of 
 Neuropterls hirsuta, Lesq'x., and Pecopterls heterophylla, BrgH., are 
 preserved in a reddish ferruginous hard shale. 
 
 It may appear strange that we can refer to a coal, generally acknowl- 
 eged as the thickest and most extensive one, such a thin bed as our 
 No. 8; but, if we follow the Pittsburg coal from its eastern limits, 
 where it attains its greatest thickness, we see it gradually thinning 
 westward, in a remarkably uniform manner. In the Cumberland basin 
 of Pennsylvania it is fourteen feet thick; in Elk Lick township, Som- 
 merset county, eleven feet; in Legonnier valley, Fayette county, and 
 at Pittsburg, nine feet;* at Wheeling, it is already reduced to a little 
 more than six feet, viz : coal one foot, shales one foot, coal five -feet five 
 inches; and at Athens, Ohio, to about five feet, viz: two feet five 
 inches coal, one foot and an half fire-clay or shales, and three feet coal. 
 From Cumberland, Penn., to Athens, Ohio, the distance in a direct line 
 is about one hundred and eighty miles, and from Athens to Mulford's, 
 in western Kentucky, three hundred and fifty miles. If the grada- 
 tion in the decreasing thickness of the vein had continued, without 
 change, the great Pittsburg vein would have been reduced to nothing 
 long before reaching the Kentucky coal-fields. 
 
 •See Lesley's Manual of the coil, p. 81. 
 
540 PAL^ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Coal No. 9. This is, in western Kentucky, a reliable bed, and its 
 coal is generally of very good quality. It is so well characterized by 
 the fossil remains of its shales, that it is easily identified. Its thick- 
 ness varies from three to five feet, and it is covered with a thick bed 
 of black, hard, laminated and slaby shales, which contains a quantity 
 of vegetable, but especially of animal, remains. The plants preserved 
 in the shales are mostly stems of ferns, and pieces of the bark of 
 S'igillaria. The shells, much more numerous, at least as individuals, 
 have two species, which may be taken, among others, as characteristic, 
 viz: Avicida redalateraria and Produclus muricatus. Teeth, scales, 
 and fins of fishes, (Icythyodorulites) are also found in the shales of 
 this coal, with the shells, but those remains are in great' abundance only 
 where the shells have disappeared; we have found them in all the 
 places where we had an opportunity for the examination of the vein, 
 ordinarily accompanied by a conical, regularly-ribbed print, about half 
 an inch deep, and nearly as broad at its base. This fossil has been re- 
 ferred to a peculiar scale, which covers the head of a kind of fish, 
 Cephalapsis, of which the caudal square and shining scales, are also 
 found on the same shells with remains of small Pterichthys, another spe- 
 cies of fishes of the Coal Measures* Sometimes, also, these remains 
 were accompanied with well marked small Calamites, which, from their 
 length and their slenderness, appear to have lived in deep water. 
 
 The remains of fishes which abound in the shales of coal No. 9 are 
 also found, apparently of the same species in the shales of coal No. 11. 
 In this way, if the identification of both these veins should repose on 
 palaeontology alone, it would be sometimes impossible to make a dis- 
 tinction between them, except by means of the shells, which, however, 
 are not found everywhere. The shells themselves are numerous, and 
 of species so very like that it requires a good deal of scientific perspicaci- 
 ty to distinguish them. But the identification, or rather the distinc- 
 tion of the beds is easily made out from this difference, that No. 11 
 coal is ordinarily separated into two by a clay parting, and that its 
 shales are covered by limestone, either as a more or less well developed 
 continuous or interrupted limestone, or indicated by a ferruginous clay, 
 containing the shells of this limestone. Moreover, the shales of No. 
 
 * Ly ell's Manual of Ocologjr, p. 344, 346. 
 
PALJEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 541 
 
 9 are generally of a coarser texture than those of No. 11; under the 
 microscope they appear covered with small whitish spots, which are ei- 
 ther very small shells or crushed grains of sand. 
 
 In regard to the distribution of the shells, it is necessary to recall 
 here what we have said on the distribution of the plants. In the 
 shales, of two beds formed near each other, all the species cannot be 
 different, therefore, the change in them ought to be examined with the 
 greatest care, before we decide that a palseontological distinction is 
 impossible, because some species of shells or remains of fishes are 
 identical in both beds. 
 
 Though the fire-clay of the bottom cannot give precise indications, 
 we may mention that below coal No. 9 this clay is thick — from ten to 
 twenty feet and more, and insensibly passes into a hard rock, resem- 
 bling a variegated limestone. At Hartford it forms along the river 
 true perpendicular cliffs. This particular hardness, thickness, and 
 color of the fire-clay, attracted lately my attention to a bed of coal, 
 exposed in a cut of the Pennsylvania Railroad, about three miles east 
 of Greensburg. Supposing that it might perhaps indicate an identi- 
 cal horizontal level with our No. 9 coal, I had the black roof shales 
 opened, and by examination found them to contain the same remains 
 of fishes as those enumerated above. This bed of coal, only one foot 
 thick, is separated, by limestone, shales, and sandstone, from another 
 thick vein of coal, which is exposed still higher, and it is in the vicin- 
 ity of this last coal, and just at the eastern end of the tunnel, that I 
 collected, in great abundance, and in a perfect state of preservation, 
 many species of shells which, after examination, Mr. E. T. Cox pro- • 
 nounced to be all of the same species as those of our 11th coal. Thus 
 we have here the thick, hard, colored fire-clay, and the remains of fish- 
 es of coal No. 9, and with the coal above it the characteristic shells 
 of No. 11, to show evidently the concordance of the geological level 
 at both places, in the Pennsylvania and western Kentucky coal-fields. 
 The veins of coal mentioned above, and exposed in the great cut be- 
 fore the first tunnel east of Greensburg, have evidently their place in 
 the great limestone of the upper Coal Measures of Pennsylvania — the 
 lowest about one hundred feet above the Pittsburg coal, the other some- 
 what higher, between two beds of limestone, of which the inferior is , 
 more than twenty feet thick. This is a new and remarkable coinci- 
 
542 
 
 PALJEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 dence, since, in the Holloway's boring, near Henderson, Ky., our 11th 
 coal is found also between two strata of limestone, the upper four feet 
 thickj'the^inferior eight feet. Thus the supposition that the Pittsburg 
 vein is represented by the 8th coal, in the western Kentucky coal- 
 fields, is confirmed, since the distance to No. 9 is the same as that mark' 
 ed in Lesley's Manual, between the Pittsburg vein and the 1st coal of 
 the great limestone.* 
 
 Before entering the western coal-fields of Kentucky, we bad good 
 opportunity to study the shales of No. 9 coal, first at the Shawneetown 
 Mining Company's mines, and then at the Saline Company's mines, 
 Illinois. At this last place, especially where the coal is «xtensively 
 worked, we saw the characteristic shells in the shales, especially Avicula 
 reetalateraria and Productus muricatus, with some remains of fishes 
 and large nodules of iron, sometimes perfectly round and of immense 
 size, containing at some places a great number of shells, and even fine 
 pieces of petrified wood. They are especially formed of sulphuret of 
 iron, and so hard that they can only be broken after they have been 
 roasted in the heaps of burning shales. 
 
 Curleto mines, Union county, Kentucky, No. 9, is here the main coal, 
 four feet thick, covered with thick black shales, in which are imbedded 
 large nodules of sulphuret of iron. With the remains of fishes. Avi- 
 cula reetalateraria, is the only shell that we found in the shales, and 
 even it is scarce here. Generally speaking, this shell is. unequally 
 distributed — sometimes extraordinary abundant, and sometimes entire- 
 ly wanting over extensive surfaces. At Curlew mines, the shales con- 
 tain also large pieces of Bigillaria. 
 
 Mulforefs mines, Union county. The main coal here is still No. 9 ; 
 it is four to five feet thick, covered with the same thick black shales 
 as at Curlew, but with a much greater abundance of fossil shells. 
 Avicula reetalateraria, and especially Productus muricatus are accumul- 
 ated in the shales in such quantities that they cover them sometimes 
 entirely. The large nodules of iron, also, of which some had been 
 burnt and broken, were seen to contain quantities of different specks 
 of shells, especially large bivalves and fine pieces of wood. 
 
 JackfieWs coal, at Capt Dams', Hopkins county. Though the coal 
 No. 9 is not worked here, it has been opened and its shales exposed 
 
 •See Lesley's Manual of ths coal, p. 84. 
 
PALJEONTOLO&ICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 548 
 
 well enough to permit its identification. The coal is four to five feet 
 thick, and the black shales above it contain the teeth and remains of 
 fishes, characterizing both No. 9 and No. 11 coals. The coal has no 
 clay parting, and no limestone above it. About half a mile above 
 Pidgeon run coal bed, in a rivulet near Capt. Davis' residence, there 
 is an out-crop of coal, which appears to belong to the same No, 9, open- 
 ed by Thom. Davis. 
 
 Peaks of Otter coal, on the head waters of Steward's creek, Hop- 
 kins county, is four to five feet thick, and is covered with shales of 
 exactly the same appearance, and with the same fossil remains as the 
 former. It has no clay parting, and no trace of limestone above the 
 shales. 
 
 Coal No. 9 is also open and worked four to five feet thick, at the 
 Peaks of Otter, near Alfred Town's house, with exactly the same shales 
 as above. 
 
 McNairy's coal, Pond river, MuMenburg county. No. 9 coal crops 
 out here, in the bed of a rivulet, where we could examine a few shales 
 only. They contained the remains of fishes. The coal is not open- 
 ed, and appears to be five feet thick. 
 
 Near the road from Greenville to Paradise, about two miles east of 
 Greenville, we examined two beds of the coal No. 9. The first, Capt. 
 Wing's bank, is two feet thick ; the other, Isaac Luce's bank, one mile 
 distant on the other side of the road, five feet in thickness. Both 
 beds are without clay partings and limestene, and are covered with 
 black slaby shales, marked with the same numerous remains of fishes 
 belonging to this coal. 
 
 Airdrie, Muhlenlurg county, Kentucky. No. 9 coal is not worked 
 now at this place, but it has been, in a shaft sunk from the top of the 
 hill. The shales of this bed are still heaped up near the opening, and 
 were easily identified. Though there can be no doubt about the posi- 
 tion of this bed here, since it is marked by the section of the shaft, it 
 was interesting to ascertain the identity of the fossils. The coarse 
 grained shales of this bed, exactly of the same texture as those of all 
 the beds before mentioned, contain also exactly the same remains. 
 
 Hartford, Ohio county, Kentucky. The same No. 9 coal is seen at 
 this, place, on the banks of Rough creek. The coal is only two feet 
 thick. It has the same shales, the same remains of fishes, a few shells, 
 
544 
 
 PALJE0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Avicula rectalateraria only. We have mentioned before, that at this 
 place the thick fire-clay below the coal insensibly passes into a hard 
 rock, cut in bluffs, along the river. 
 
 Lewisport, Hancock county, Kentucky. The main coal opened near 
 this place, one and a half miles from the Ohio river, still belongs to 
 No. 9. The vein is not worked, now, but the old shales, though very 
 much decayed, afford materials enough for identification. Among the 
 shales there are some boulders of limestone, or rather nodules of iron, 
 which contain an abundance of the same shells that we found at Mul- 
 ford's, especially Productus muricatus. One mile further west of this 
 place, the same coal is worked now in a small way, for the demand of 
 the town. It has here the same slabby shales, with the same fossils. 
 The main thickness of the coal at both places is four feet to four feet 
 four inches. 
 
 Henderson shaft, Ky. The 9th coal is reached here about one hun- 
 dred and ninety feet from the top of the shaft, as marked in the sec- 
 tion, p.p. 36 to 39 of the first report. The shales of this bed are easily 
 distinguishable in the rubbish, having in them the fossil remains of 
 fishes, and the Avicula rectalateraria- The palseontological identifica- 
 tion is here of small interest, because the shales of the shaft are all 
 mixed together in a heap, and also because the section itself gives the 
 best indication about the place of this coal. This section agrees near- 
 ly foot by foot with No. 1, vertical diagram of the report of the Saline 
 Company, Ind. The distance from the coal, two feet four inches, lit- 
 tle Newburg coal, which is No. 1 1, is one hundred and eight feet, show- 
 ing the total absence of the middle coal. At Saline Company it is 
 one hundred and two feet, and at Shawneetown Company, Ind., one 
 hundred and ten feet. 
 
 Coal No. 1 0. This vein appears to be the most unreliable and in- 
 constant of all. It looks like a wandering bed, sometimes high up, 
 sometimes descending, most of the time entirely absent or joined to 
 No. 11. I would have omitted its description if we had not seen it at 
 Shawneetown Company mine, where it has been scarcely opened. The 
 coal, two to three feet thick, looks brittle and oxidated, an appearance 
 possibly caused by atmospheric influence, and disintegration of the out- 
 cropping part. The roof shales are black, hard, compact, not slabby, 
 but irregularly breaking, and without any traces of shells. The bot- 
 
PALJEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OP. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 545 
 
 torn is a micaceous coarse fire-clay, full of SUgmaria, resembling sand- 
 stone shales. This is all that we can possibly say of this bed, which 
 entirely disappears, at least as an isolated bed, in all the part of the 
 coal-fields that we have explored. The shaft of the Henderson Com- 
 pany shows there its total absence; at the Hollo way boring its place 
 only is marked by a three feet two inches bed of black shales, with 
 some little coal ; at the Airdrie shaft there is no trace ol it; at Curlew 
 and Mulford's, coals No. 9 and No. 11 are open on the same hills, and 
 the place of No. 10 is indicated only by a coal dirt. If we had found 
 it at any other place the remarkable conformation of its fire-clay would 
 have afforded an easy identification of it. The only way of account- 
 ing for its disappearance is by supposing that it is generally part of 
 coal No. 11, and tbat at Shawneetown Company mine, where it is separa- 
 ted from it by forty-three feet of shales, it has somewhat gone out of its 
 way. Perhaps this is the cause of the irregular and sometimes large 
 thickness of No. 11, and of its one and sometimes two clay partings, 
 also very variable in their thickness. 
 
 There is about the position of this bed a difference between the to- 
 pographical assertions and our own. But this difference is probably 
 caused by mistaking, in some places, No. 11 for No. 10. With such 
 beds, unreliable in their directions, the topography, by itself, and 
 without the aid of. the palaeontology, must necessarily lead to error. 
 
 Coal No. 11. This is a peculiar, generally very fine and well de- 
 veloped bed of coal, though varying from two to nine feet in thickness. 
 We have previously observed, that as regards the remains of fishes, espe- 
 cially, there is a remarkable identity in the palseontological characters 
 of this and No. 9 coal. The shells appear to be generally of different 
 species, and especially distributed in a different proportion. From the 
 notes of Mr. Cox, who may perhaps change the nomenclature of the 
 shells after a more careful examinatiou, No. 11 coal is especially characr 
 terized by an abundance of Pleurotamaria of various species; Pror 
 ductus Eogeri? (N. and P.;) Nucula Hameri? and by a large Avicula f 
 resembling Avicula rectalateraria, but larger and with a difference in 
 the ribs of the side wings. The fossil plants are not so generally dis- 
 tributed in those shales as in No. 9, especially the Sigillaria seems to 
 be wanting. The shales also are of finer texture, more bituminous, 
 
 69 
 
546 PAL.&0NTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 and not so easily separated into slabs. The remains of shells are gen- 
 erally much more numerous, and the number of species much greater. 
 This bed can generally be recognized by its parting. But it should 
 be observed that when the vein thickens much the clay partings are 
 double, and when it thins to two or three feet, there is, ordinarily, none; 
 but this last 1 case is very rare. 
 
 Curlew mine, Union county, Kentucky. At this place, about one hun- 
 dred feetaboVe the main coal, wehad the first good opportunity of study- 
 ing the coal No. 11, and of collecting the fossil shells of its shales. 
 All the characters above described are found there. The coal at Cur- 
 lew, as of Shawneeton Company, Illinois,- is mostly bird-eye. In 
 the anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania, there is also a peculiar bed, 
 in which this kind of coal is generally seen. It would be very inter- 
 esting to ascertain if both these beds are on the same geological level. 
 This I was unable to do, since I saw only specimens of the coal in 
 cabinets, but never the place where they had been taken. 
 
 At the Curlew mine, above the shales of No. 11, there is a bed of 
 fossiliferous limestone. 
 
 Thompson's mine, Union county, Kentucky. Coal No. 11, is open at 
 this place. It is six feet thick, has a clay parting, and the shales 
 contain the remains of fishes, and some of the above mentioned shells. 
 There is above it a bed of limestone, passing into brown ferruginous, 
 hardened clay, fall of fossil shells of the same species as in the lime- 
 stone. 
 
 Llewellyn mines, Union county, Kentucky. Same coal at this place, 
 about six feet thick, with clay parting, and limestone above the shales. 
 The shales, though thin, have the same fossil remains as the for ner. 
 
 Providence, Hopkins comity, Kentucky. At this place the coal No. 
 11, crops out around the hill, on which the town is built. Its charac- 
 teristics are exactly the same as at Thompson and Llewellyn, viz : 
 coal five to six feet thick, with clay parting, covered with black slabby 
 shales, with remains of fishes, and some shells, and above them the 
 limestone, passing into rotten ferruginous brown stone or shale, full of 
 fossil shells, especially of a Prodactus Boyersi, marked with short 
 spines. About one mile west of the town, among the hills, there has 
 been opened a bed of coal, four to six feet thick, which has the same 
 shales, but wants the limestone above them. Nevertheless, the place 
 
PALJEOKTOLOGTCAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. |547 
 
 of this limestone being indicated by a thin bed of yellow ferruginous 
 clay, with fossil shells, we referred this bed to the same coal 11, with 
 some doubt. 
 
 Pigeon's Run, Hopkins count//. This coal is No. 11, eight to nine 
 ■ feet thick. It has a clay parting, and is covered with four to five feet 
 of black shales, always containing the same fossil remains as those 
 mentioned above. The limestone above it is irregular, -mostly in boul- 
 ders or large slabs, as at Thompson's mines, and at the Shawneetown 
 Company's mines. 
 
 In Hopkins county, Kentuky, No. 11 coal is opened at the Sisk 
 bank, and seen at some other places around in Town's property, With 
 the same shales and limestone. 
 
 Arnold's mine, four aud a half miles south of Madisonville, Hopkins, 
 county. No. 11 coal is here eight feet thick, has two clay partings, 
 and a thick bed of black slabby shales, with an abundance of fossil re- 
 mains, fishes, and shells, which give character to this coal. The slabs 
 are covered with limestone. 
 
 McNairy's coal, Pond river, Miihhnlurg county. No. 11 coal is 
 opened here at two places, seven feet thick. The clay parting, the 
 shales, with their characteristic fossils, and the limestone above them, 
 are found at each place. Here, also, coal No. 12 is present, and comes 
 so near No. 11, that it is separated from it only by its floor of two 
 feet six inches of fire clay, and by the limestone (one foot thick,) of 
 No. 11 coal. 
 
 Miller s coal, on Isaac's creek, Muhlenburg county, belongs to No. 11. 
 It is six feet thick, has its usual black shales, with the before mention- 
 ed fossil remains, its superimposed limestone, and a clay parting. The 
 brown ferruginous and fossiliferous clay or shale is also present here, 
 covering the limestone. This ferruginous shale is sometimes above, 
 sometimes below the limestone, and sometimes takes its place. 
 
 Airdrie, Muhlenburg county. Coal No. 11 is here the main coal, 
 six feet thick, with clay parting. The black shales contain an abun- 
 dance of beautifully preserved shells, and also scales, fins, and teeth of 
 fishes. They are covered with a limestone bed three feet thick. 
 
 Bonharbouf', Daviess county, Kentucky. There is no place where No. 
 1 1 , coal is so easily identified by palseontological observations. The 
 <$qal about five feet thick, has an occasional day parting, or is sepaja- 
 
548 PAL-EONTOLOGIGAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVET. 
 
 ted by a thin layer of sulpburet of iron and charcoal. It is topped by 
 the black slaby shales, with great abundance of shells, and some re- 
 mains of fishes; and above it, has a soft calcareous rock, also full of 
 beautifully preserved shells, all species characteristic of this coal. Near 
 Curdsville, opposite this "place, on Green river, in Henderson county, 
 No. 11 coal has been worked, and is here called Cook's upper coal. The 
 coal, four feet thick, has a clay parting; its black shales are full of 
 shells, as at Bonliarbour,andit is covered by two beds of limestone, sepa- 
 rated by a bed of coal-dirt and fire clay, six inches thick. The infe- 
 rior bed of limestone is full of shells, but the superior one is black and 
 without remains of fossils. 
 
 Coal No. 12. The general features of this coal recall the same ob- 
 servations as for No. 10. Its formation has followed too near that of 
 No. 11. It is an unreliable bed, as well for its thickness as for its 
 position. It sometimes comes so near No. 1 1 , that it looks like a part 
 of it, and sometimes it is. found twenty or thirty feet above it. Its 
 palaeontological characters are well marked by an abundance of remains 
 of fossil fishes, especially large scales, and large (mostly double) teeth. 
 In Nos. 9 and 11, the remains of fishes belong only to very small 
 species; in this they are mnch larger. The doulle teeth, found in 
 abundance at Airdrie, are of a peculiar structure, viz : divided into two 
 hooked points, about half an inch long, diverging from the base. 
 
 Exclusive of its fossil remains, coal No. 12 is easily identified by 
 the composition of its coal, which is mostly a dirty, rashy, coaly mat- 
 ter, a compound of flattened Stigmaria, Catamites, and some scarce 
 Sigiltaria, well preserved in their outlines. Coal and shales are cov- 
 ered by a black band, or bed of calcareous iron stone, passing to a 
 black limestone, which sometimes takes its place. This limestone is 
 not fossiliferous, as far as has yet been observed. 
 
 Airdrie, Mulilenhurg county, is the first, and truly the only place, 
 where we had a good opportunity of studying No. 12 coal. It is 
 opened here for the black band from which the material is supplied to 
 C. H. Alexander's furnace. The bed of coal about four feet, has two 
 to three feet of coal-rash, apparently entirely formed of Catamites, Stig- 
 maria, and Sigiltaria. I could not find a Lepidodendron among those 
 vegetable remains. Below the ccal^ash there is one to one and an 
 half feet good coal. The shales, one foot thick, are parted by the 
 
PAL.&0NT0L0GICAL KEP0RT OF GEOLOGICAL StJKVET. 549 
 
 black band, which sometimes disappears, sometimes occupies the whole 
 thickness of the shales. The black band itself does not contain any 
 fossil remains; but at all the places where it is not formed, the shales 
 contain, in abundance, the remains of fishes mentioned above. 
 
 Besides at Airdrie, we observed this 1 2th coal over the limestone in 
 the peaks of Otter, on Town's property, Hopkins county, Kentucky, 
 where it is a rashy coal, three to four feet thick, and has a black band 
 parting shale, with the remains of fishes. At MeNairy's, Muhlenburg 
 county, Kentucky, where it comes within two feet and a half of No. 
 11, and is a rashy coal, with black limestone between it and No. 11; 
 opposite New Curdsville, in Henderson county, where it has only six 
 inches coal dirt, comes to within three feet of No. 11, and has lime- 
 stone both above and below it, and probably also at the top of Gamb- 
 lin hill, Hopkins county, where we saw its out-crop only, in a hole full 
 of water, which prevented closer examination. This bed is no where 
 open in such a manner that it could be studied satisfactorily. It is 
 indicated at other places, but always as a rash and unreliable coal. 
 
 This terminates the series of local information that we were able to 
 collect in one month of palseontological survey in the western coal- 
 fields of Kentucky. Perhaps the results may not be accepted as en- 
 tirely satisfactory; but, considering the short time, and the extent of 
 country surveyed, we think that it was hardly possible to obtain a 
 larger amount of useful information. Not only the true vertical ex- 
 tent or the thickness of the Coal Measures of Kentucky is at once 
 fixed, bnt the geological level of many important stations is ascer- 
 tained, and these may serve as points of comparison for future inves- 
 tigation. Moreover, the first basis for the determination of the coal- 
 fields, by palseontological remains, is laid down in this report, and 
 every observer may test its value, and find out every fact that can 
 modify or consolidate it. For, though the most valuable beds of coal 
 of Kentucky have had their essential characters pointed out in such 
 a manner that every geologist will easily know them again every where, 
 yet there is a great thickness of the Coal Measures that is still nearly 
 unexplored. This part contains, wrthout doubt, the less important and 
 less valuable veins; nevertheless, the study of coals Nos. 2, 3, 5, 
 and 8, may be of great interest in a scientific point of view. For this 
 the collection of all the fossil remains, plants, shells, fishes, with refer- 
 
550 PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 enceto the place where they have found, and if possible to the supposed 
 geological level of it, will prove the most valuable contribution. 
 
 I thought at first to examine, in detail, the question of the identi- 
 ty of all the coal-fields of the Mississippi valley, including the great 
 Apalachian and the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania. But a scientific 
 discussion would take too much space in a local report like this, and 
 I can only offer out some general remarks, which will at least explain 
 this belief: that the western Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana .coal- 
 fields were formed in continuity with the great Apalachian basin, and 
 the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania. The comparison will be bet- 
 ter understood by looking at the description of the lower coals, as it 
 is given on pp. 94 and 95 of Lesley's excellent Manual of coal. His 
 coal A, a thin bed, the first above the conglomerates, is sometimes 
 present in western Ohio, as at Nelsonville, where it is about two feet 
 thick, and in Virginia, as on the great Kanawha, near Charlestown, 
 where it is eigteen inches thick; but, nevertheless, it is scarcely seen 
 or penetrated in the borings for salt. As the system of the lower 
 coals is less developed at the west, a circumstance easily explained by 
 our general remarks, this bed of coal, when formed in the eastern coal- 
 fields of Kentucky, is only a thin layer. In a shaft of the Old Distil- 
 lery min«s, at Caseyville, this bed is said to have been reached, and 
 found to be one to two feet thick, Bat truly we could not find any 
 reliable account of this. 
 
 Coal B, of Lesley's Manual, viz: our coal No, 1, B, is in the west- 
 ern Kentucky coal-fields, as well as in Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsyl- 
 vania, a most reliable vein, and undoubtedly the best of the whole se- 
 ries, considering the extent of the surface where it becomes exposed. 
 It thickens to the east, and in the anthracite fields it forms the Mam- 
 moth vein, and many others of the largest veins which have been worked. 
 As a proof that its characters are everywhere the same, I quote a few 
 lines of my palseontological report prepared and delivered in 1852, for 
 the Geological State Survey of Pennsylvania: 
 
 "As soon as we come to the lower strata, the presence of large vege- 
 tables becomes apparent, first in the great quantity of Sligmaria 
 abounding in the shales of the Diamond and Primrose veins, then in the 
 Zepidodendron, and some large ferns which distinguish the Mammoth 
 vein. This vein especially merits to be mentioned for its peculiar 
 flora. The roof slates, of gray color, ordinarily charged with nodules 
 
PALiEONTOLOGICAL BEPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 551 
 
 of iron, have preserved the impressions of fossil plants in a very good 
 state. The ferns, when present, belong to the largest species. With 
 the Lepidodendron and their fruits, found in great abundance at Wilkes- 
 barre, Carbondale, Minersville, Tamaqua, and Summit Lehigh, the 
 fefns mostly seen in these low veins are Alethopteris Serlii, with its 
 near relative Alethopteris (Pecopteris) lonchitica, and also with Neurop' 
 tens hirsuta and Neuropteris Clarksoni, Lsq'x. The fruits and needles 
 of Lepidodendron, viz : Lepidostrobus and Lepidophittum, are also very 
 abundant in the Mammoth vein of the anthracite, and since we did 
 not find any specimens of these fruits any where else, viz: in any 
 other bed above, their presence may be relied upon as a true character 
 of the lowest beds of the coal basin in general, (p. 8 to 9, MSS.) 
 
 "We have already alluded to the identity of the great Apalachian 
 coal with the anthracite formation, asserting that this identity is espe- 
 cially striking by comparison of the flora of the different strata. 
 
 "The lowest bed of the basin (our coal No. 1, B,) rests on the con- 
 glomerates, and crops out at Summit Portage, where we collected some 
 Lepidodendron and Lepidophillum; at Johnstown, where the black 
 slates of the roof are charged with Lepidostrobus, especially with 
 Lepidostrobus brevifolius, Lsq'x., and also with Lepidodendron, at 
 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where the shales abound with the same plants, 
 and also with Peopteris lonchitica, and some Sigillaria. There is also 
 there plenty of fruits — Curdiocarpon, Carpolithes — as at the low vein 
 of Trevorton, Penn. The last place where we had opportunity to ex- 
 amine this vein, so rich in fine fossil vegetables, is on the great Ka- 
 nawha river, three miles above Charlestown, where we found the roof 
 shales covered with Alethopteris Serlii, and with some fine Lepidoden- 
 dron, and Lepidostrobus in abundance. From this we shall necessari- 
 ly be permitted to draw this conclusion: that this vein of coal, pre- 
 serving so well it characteristic fossil plants, and at so great distances, 
 was formed at the same time, and under the same circumstances, as 
 well in the whole extent of the great Apalachian coal as in the anthra- 
 cite coal-fields." (Pages 10, 11, MSS.) 
 
 This is nearly a repetition of what we have said about the lowest 
 bed of coal, viz: No. l,B,of the western coal-fields of Kentucky; and 
 for this basin, also, we must necessarily draw the same conclusions as 
 above. 
 
 The correspondence of No. 2 coal with cannel coal C, of Pennsyl- 
 nia, of our No. 4 with the Pomeroy vein of Ohio, and with the Gates 
 and Salem veins of ,the anthracite, at Pottsville, as also the relation 
 of No. 6 ccal with the Steiger's bed of Athens, Ohio, have been already 
 and sufficiently pointed out. 
 
552 VALM 3NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 The barren measures, from the Pomeroy coal up to the great Pitts- 
 burg vein, are perhaps not as well developed in the western coal-fields 
 of Kentucky as in the great Apalachian basin; but, following our 
 general remarks, all the strata have necessarily thinned somewhat 
 westwards. Nevertheless, the space occupied in Kentucky by these 
 barren measures, is three hundred feet thick, which is as much as in 
 some places of Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is true that the measures are 
 not entirely barren in western Kentucky, since there is a coal, No. 5, 
 four feet thick, at ninety-five feet above No. 4. But the same vein is 
 well developed in Ohio, near Athens, at one hundred feet above the 
 Pomeroy coal, and in Pennsylvania, where the barren measure take 
 their greatest developement; the same coal, one foot thick, is general- 
 ly found at about fifty feet above the Mahoning sandstone, which rest 
 upon the Pomeroy coal, and is seventy feet thick. This great sand- 
 stone, which is sometimes a bed of conglomerates, follow westward the 
 same decreasing progression as the true conglomerates of the coal meas- 
 ures. 
 
 Nos. 6 and 7 coal, generally thin beds, have, in the western coal- 
 fields, taken the place of the limestone of Pennsylvania, according to 
 this principle, that where a quiet water is high, and the marine element 
 predominating, a limestone may be formed, when at the same time, in 
 more shallow marshes, the plants will grow, and their remains make a 
 deposit of coal or shales ; for it is evident that though the whole of 
 the Coal Measures appears to have been horizontal, at least at some 
 periods of formation, there has been, in different places, some depres- 
 sions, forming lakes in the peat growing marshes, and that these lakes 
 had to be filled by sand or by formation of shales, or of limestone, 
 before they could again be covered with vegetation, and consequently 
 with coal. 
 
 If the examination of the fossils of No. 8 coal, shows it to be the 
 true coeval of the Pittsburg vein, we have, from it to the highest point 
 of the Coal Measures, as far as they have been surveyed in the United 
 States, another striking analogy in the position of the veins of coal, 
 and their respective distance in both the coal-fields of western Ken- 
 tucky and Pennsylvania. Admitting the coal marked three feet five 
 inches, in the great limestone of Pennsylvania, as our .No. 11, with 
 which it is in perfect concordance by its fossils, and admitting that our 
 
PALiEONTOLOGUCAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 553 
 
 No. 12 is either united with it or not formed as in western Kentucky, 
 we find in Pennsylvania, according to Lesley's description of the upper 
 Coal Measures, a bed of coal, one foot thick above the great limestone, 
 covered by two thick formations of sandstone, one fifteen feet, the 
 other thirty-five feet, separated by shales, and a thin bed of limestone — - 
 the whole thickness of these strata being sixty-five to seventy feet. 
 In Kentucky, between 12 coal, and the first coal above, there is nine- 
 ty-five feet of sandstone and blue slate; and from this coal, which, for 
 convenience sake, we wiil call No. 13, there is thirty-six feet of shales 
 and limestone, to a five feet black slate, which contains some coal, and 
 then thirty-seven feet of brown slate and limestone, to a bed of coal, 
 (say No. 14,) which is thirteen inches thick. In Pennsylvania, we 
 find, in the same space, fifty feet of sandstone and shales, to a coal 
 eighteen inches thick, and then fifty-five feet of limestone and shales, 
 to another coal one foot thick, covered by four feet of brown shales, 
 and twenty feet of sandstone. And more, if we count the whole thick- 
 ness of the strata from the highst vein of coal in Pennsylvania to the 
 Pittsburg vein, we find it to be marked by Lesley at four hundred 
 feet, and the distance from our 14 coal to No. 8, or Well coal, is 
 nearly exactly the same, viz: three hundred and ninety-five feet. 
 
 Truly this extraordinary concordance of the Coal Measures, at ma- 
 ny hundred miles distance, is a very remarkable geological fact; and 
 mny be accepted as a proof, not only of coevity, but of continuity of 
 the now separated coal-fields. 
 
 It may be said that a coevity of formation would, perhaps, call in 
 existence the same formations, on both separate basins, as well as on a 
 continuous one. This is possible, but there is nothing to prove it. 
 On the contrary, we find, on the true borders of the great Apalachian 
 coal-fields, viz: on its eastern and northern limits, many peculiar ac- 
 cidents of formation, great irregularity of thickness in the strata, dis- 
 tortions, cavities, subdivision of the bed of coal, which show the action 
 of the sea on its shores, where the sand is unequally distributed, and 
 where some small basins are closed and separated from the main one ; 
 and also on the western borders of the Apalachian, as well as on the east- 
 ern limits of the western Kentucky coal-fields, the veins of coal, and 
 even the intermediate strata, have a remarkable uniformity of thick- 
 ness. From Massillon, Ohio, to the Ohio river, at Nelsonsville and 
 
 70 
 
554 PALJIONTOI.OGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 other places, coal No. 1, B, is from four to six feet thick, arid along 
 the eastern borders of the Illinois coal-field, as at Hawesville and 
 Breckinridge, the same coal is four to five feet in thickness. As far 
 as I have been able to extend my explorations till now, I have not seen 
 any part of the coal-fields, east of the Mississippi, which give indica- 
 tions of having|been separated from the general coal-fields at the time 
 of their formation, except the anthracite basins of Pennsylvania; and 
 I still think, that even these were connected by channels with the 
 general basin, and that these channels have been often obstructed. 
 I hat the high and quiet water of the sea has never covered them, is 
 evident, from the total absence of limestone and shells in their strata, 
 and also from the great thickness and the subdivision of the beds of 
 coal; while in the general basin, the growth of the vegetation of the 
 coal was sometimes stopped by the slow invasion of marine water, in 
 the enclosed marshes of the anthracite fields, the growth of the vege- 
 table materials was continuous for a longer period, and stopped only by 
 the invasion of the sand brought upon them by a greater depression 
 of the whole surface. In this case, we may find the fossil plants to 
 represent the same species in the beds of coevel formation; but these 
 species may be distributed in another manner, viz : appear identical in 
 two or three veins close to each other, when in the general basin, they 
 belong to a single vein. The case is observable near Pottsville, Wilkes- 
 barre, and a few other places, and can be explained only by supposing 
 that while the coal-field was submerged, some disturbance has strewn 
 a bed of sand upon the already growing marshes of the borders, and 
 that the vegetation beginning again, before a general change by de- 
 pression or upheaval, the plants were of the same species as the former. 
 1 still persist in the affirmation of my report to the Pennsylvania geo- 
 logical survey, that the Salem and the Gates veins, as well as the 
 Black and the Lewis veins around Pottsville, belong to the same bed 
 of coal. But if this assertion should be proved a mistake, the identi- 
 ty of the fossils of those veins could not be explained but by the above 
 supposition. 
 
 But, it is asked: if the upraising of the lower formations, which has 
 caused the coal-fields to be separated by about two hundred miles of 
 Devonian and Silurian strata, was posterior to the formation of the 
 coal, what has become of the upraised Coal Measures, and where is 
 
PAL.E0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 555 
 
 the proof that they have been destroyed by subsequent erosion? The 
 proof is found in the quaternary formations, all along the Ohio and 
 the Mississippi rivers. The loam deposited by these rivers is some- 
 times mixed with broken and rolled pieces of coal; there are even 
 some deposits of alluvial rolled coal, or pebbles of coal, heaped in 
 strata in such a way that they have been taken, by unexperienced ob- 
 servers, for true coal beds. I had opportunity to examine one at low 
 water of the Ohio river, below Vevay, Ind., in an alluvial formation, 
 just upon the Lower Silurian Measures, and I have heard of some oth- 
 ers. 
 
 But here we must close this already too lengthened discussion, and 
 let the reader draw his own conclusions from the facts enumerated 
 above, and also apply the general rules to the different localities open 
 for his examination. There are, no doubt, some phenomena of the 
 formation of the coal that are not yet satisfactorily explained, and some 
 local accidents which will baffle every effort toward a generalization. 
 But the science of the coal is still new, especially in the United States, 
 where the coal-fields have been till now regarded only as true mines of 
 wealth, very good for working, but scarcely worth a careful scien- 
 tific study. 
 
556 PALjBONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL STJRVEV. 
 
 Explanation of the Plates. 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 Fig. 1. Sphenopteris tridadyl'Ues, Brongt? Our species, found at Union Com- 
 pany mines, somewhat differs from the European species, by its long- 
 er tertiary pinnules and its broader punctulate rachis; it is probably 
 a peculiar species; 1 a shows a tertiary pinnule; twice the natural size. 
 
 Fio. 2. Neuropterisjlexuosa, Sternb. Giger's vein, Greenup county, Ky. 
 
 Fio. 3. Pecopteris lonchitica, Brongt. Upper part of a frond. The secondary- 
 pinnae like a are mostly found. Low coal. Union Company mines, 
 &c. 
 
 Fio. 4. JVeuropteris hirsuta, Lsqx., -with stem. The leaflets are mostly found 
 separate. Common in the whole extent of Coal Measures. Very 
 variable in its outlines. 
 
 PLATE VII. 
 
 Fio. I. Lepidodendron politum, spec. nova. General scars oval lanceolate 
 pointed curved at both ends with broad inflated, scarcely ribbed mar- 
 gins. Impressions rhomboidal, obtuse above, narrowed at the base, 
 marked with three obsolete points; appendages two, united to the 
 margin; no medial line nor wrinkles on the smoth scars. Union Com- 
 pany mines, Ky. 
 
 Fio. 2. Stigmariaficoides, Sternb., with flattened leaves as it is ordinarily found 
 in the coal and the shales. Fig. 2a shows part of a round leaf as 
 preserved in the sandstone. 
 
 Fio. 3. Lepidostrolus . Low coal. Bell's mines, Hawesville, &c. 
 
 Fig. 4. Sigillaria obovala, Lsq'x. MSS. in Pennsylvania report. Low coal. 
 
 Fio. 5. Cross section of a small Lepidostrolus. 
 
 Fig. 6. Lepidophyllum crevifolium, Lsq'x. MSS. Pennsylvania report, pi. 23, 
 fig. 6. 
 
 Fio. 7. Lepidophyllum lanceolatum, Brgt. These three last species are general- 
 ly found in the low coal. 
 
 Fig. 8. Carpolitkes plati-marginatus, Lsq'x. MSS. in Pennsylvania report, pi. 
 1 23, fig. 12. Low coal. Union Company mines, <fcc. 
 
 Fio. 9. Carpolithes bicuspidatus, Sternb., common in the low coal of Kentucky. 
 
 Fie. 10. Calamitet tubtrtvlosut, Gutb. Bash coal, Kentucky. 
 
PALJONTOLOGICAL REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 COAL MEASUBE MOLLUSCA 
 
 MADE BY 
 
 EDWAED T. COX, 
 
 ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST. 
 
REPORT . 
 
 TO DR DAVID DALE OWEN, 
 
 Geologist of the State of Kentucky. 
 
 Sib, : In accordance with your instructions I accompanied Mr. Leo 
 Lesquereux in an excursion for the purpose of examining the coal field 
 in the western part of Kentucky, with the view to collect palseontolog- 
 ical data, that might greatly aid in identifying the different veins of 
 coal, one with another, throughout the counties embraced in its extent; 
 especially by means of the organic remains found in the roof-shales 
 and accompanying rocks. 
 
 The merited celebrity of Mr. Lesquereux as a fossil Botanist, and 
 the important labor which he had bestowed upon the coal plants of 
 Pennsylvania and Ohio, made his selection for a similar work in Ken- 
 tucky, the very best it was possible to make. 
 
 In connection with Mr. Lesquereux, I was especially instructed to 
 pay attention to the fossil mollusca, and collect every possible evidence 
 for identity from that source. This mode of establishing the position 
 of coal beds has only been practically pursued by Mr. Lesquereux in 
 this country ; and a beginning is now being made, for the first time, 
 to connect with the flora the testimony of the shells — an addition 
 much needed in western Kentucky, on account of the great scarcity 
 of the former, and abundance of the latter. 
 
 Our investigations, for identity, commencing with coal No. 1, B, at 
 the bottom of the section in the first chapter of your report, and ter- 
 minating with coal No. 12, includes, in all the strata, a vertical thick- 
 ness of about eight hundred feet. It must not be supposed that these 
 members include the whole thickness of the western coal field ; though 
 they mark, probably, the limits of the profitably working coals, there 
 are one or two thin seams below No. 1, B, which, with a thick sand- 
 stone, usually pebbly, with underlying shale, make together one hun- 
 dred feet or more ; whilst above No. 12, there are a number of thin 
 veins with intervening shales, limestone, and sand-rock, in all up- 
 wards of five hundred feet, making the whole measures in the western 
 
560 PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 part of the state from (1,400) fourteen hundred to (1,500) fifteen 
 hundred feet. 
 
 The thin veins above No. 12, are not wanting in distinctive organic 
 remains, and collections had already been made from some of these 
 higher beds, amongst which are seveal new species. The}' have been 
 omitted for the present, as being of the least importance, and because 
 they require additional study. 
 
 In Mr. Lesquereux's report will be found an extremely interesting 
 account of the formation of fossil fuel, and the equivalency of the 
 various beds of coal throughout the field of our examination.- It re- 
 mains only necessary for me, on this occasion, to refer to each vein its 
 peculiar fossil shells, so far as they have been ascertained. 
 
 It may be asked, how came marine shells to be imbedded in the 
 roof-shales, if the coal has been formed in fresh water ? They follow- 
 ed the influx of the sea after subsidence of the land, and are such as 
 usually live in shallow or brackish water, belonging to the phytiferous 
 (vegetable feeders,) and carniverous orders. The salt water gradually 
 killed out the coal flora — the last remains of which mixed with algse, 
 became entangled in the sediment of the ocean, and served to supply 
 bitumen, with which the dark shales that usually form the roof of the 
 coal are so frequently charged. 
 
 Our observations go to show that wherever we found fossil remains 
 of the molusca abundant in the roof-shale, coal plants are rarely 
 found, whilst remains of marine plants are usually abundant. 
 
 COAL NO. 1, B. 
 
 This is the loAvest workable coal in the western basin, varying in 
 thickness from three to six feet, and characterized by a solitary molus- 
 ca* Lingula umbonatg, nob., plate X, fig. 4. It is opened and worked 
 by the Union Coal and Iron Company, one and a half miles below 
 Carrsville, in Livingston county, where it is an outlier, and the most 
 southern workable coal in the state. This vein has been opened and 
 worked by several companies along Tradewater river, in Crittenden 
 county-t It is most extensively worked on the property of Col. John 
 Bell, where it is from three and a half to six feet thick, and known as 
 the "Bell coal." Another opening was made into this vein on the' same 
 
 •For the flora see Mr. Leo Lesquereux's report. 
 +See report of Dr. D. D. Owen, State Geologist. 
 
PAL.BONTOLOGICAL REPORT OP GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 561 
 
 property, about three quarters of a mile farther from Tradewater, by 
 Mr. Cook, whose name it bears. 
 
 In Union county it is mined by the Messrs. Casey's; out-crops near 
 the old distillery back of Casey ville, also on the property of the Ken- 
 tucky Coal Company, and various other localities in the same county. 
 
 On the eastern boundary of the basin it proves to be the main Hawes- 
 ville and Breckinridge coal vein, at each of which localities we found 
 the identical Lingula umbonata In the shales of the roof at Hawes- 
 ville, where we had an excellent opportunity to examine, they were 
 found in the greatest abundance. 
 
 The remaining figures on plate X belong to the Cephalopoda division 
 of the mollusca, and were collected on a previous occasion by the sur- 
 vey, at Nolin Iron Works, Edmonson county. They are new, and oc- 
 cupy a low position in the Coal Measures, i. e., about one hundred feet 
 above the conglomerate. 
 
 Very little has yet been done towards making openings into the oth- 
 er coals below No. 9, and what old workings have been undertaken are 
 now mostly filled up, so that but little opportunity has been afforded 
 for making collections from these beds. The only animal remains as 
 yet found in them is from No. 7, or "Black-land vein," a thin seam of 
 coal over-layed by a black bituminous, ferruginous carbonate of lime 
 in thin bands, and these are fins, scales, and teeth of fish, that have not 
 yet been determined. This vein, which is only noticed on account of 
 its ferruginous calcareous black-band roof, from one and a half to two 
 and a half feet in thickness, is best developed on the property of Mr. 
 Alfred Towns, in Hopkins county, and usually contains from twenty to 
 twenty-five per cent, of metallic iron. Its is also seen on the proper- 
 ty of the Saline Mining Company, Gallatin county, Illinois, where it 
 contains the same description of fish remains. Its position is about 
 one hundred and thirty feet below No. 9. 
 
 COAL NO. 9. 
 
 This is the main working coal in the western part of the state, and 
 is usually characterised by an abundance of fossil mollusca ; amongst 
 the most numerous are those figured on plate IX : Avicula recta-late- 
 raria, A. acosta, Solemamya soleniformis, Nautilus decoratus, and Pro- 
 ductus muricatus. Besides these there are Nucula Hamerii, Nucula, 
 species undetermined, Pecien, species undetermined, Pleurotomaria 
 71 
 
562 PALjEONTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 
 
 Grayviilensis, Lozonema, species undetermined, Orthoceratite, species 
 undetermined, Ckonetes mesoloba, (variety small, and prominently 
 lobed,) Productns equicostatus, and Bellerophon carbonarious. This 
 Bellerophon, which we propose to call B. carbonarious, has generally 
 been refered to B. Urei, Flem., by western Palaeontologists — a con- 
 clusion with which we cannot agree ; not from a desire to create a new 
 species, but with a view to a proper understanding of the true geolo- 
 gical position of the shells of the Coal Measures. The B. Urei, accor- 
 ding to L. De Koninck, has a vertical range from the silurian to the 
 carboniferous beds, whereas the B. carbonarious has not been found to 
 range lower than the middle of the coal basin, and is only fully rep- 
 resented in the upper part. It certainly approaches very close to L. 
 De Koninck's description of the B. Urei, (Description Animaux Fos- 
 siles, page 356, pi. xxx, fig. 4,) and may possibly be a variety, but 
 cannot be considered identical. That there are several varieties or 
 species referred to this shell, is evident from the description of the 
 following authors here cited : Capt. Portlock, Geology of Londonderry, 
 page 400; Mr. Phillips' Geology of Yorkshire, page 231 ; McCoy's 
 Description of British Palaeozoic fossils in the Geological Museum of 
 Cambridge, page 555; all of which differ materially. It is referred to 
 B. Urei by Norwood and Pratten; Notice of fossils from the carbonif- 
 erous series of the western states ; Journal Acad. Nat. Sci., June, 1855; 
 page 75, plate IX., fig. 6. The original of this figure is in my cabinet, 
 and was loaned to them for representation, being at that time the only 
 perfect specimen known. I an sorry to say, from some over-sight, for 
 it was in the hands of a most excellent artist and esteemed friend, this 
 figure gives a very inporrect idea of the shell ; it exhibits but two- 
 thirds of the true number of the spiral striae — having only fifteen, 
 whereas, there should have been twenty ; (from the examination of a 
 large number, they are found to range from 19 to 25 ;) the mouth, as 
 well as the general contour, is essentially wrong. None of the various 
 authors who have described the B. Urei mention the lateral expansion 
 of the mouth into ears, a feature very decided in our shell. It alsq 
 differs in having fewer spiral striae, and by the more rapid increase of 
 the last whorl. From the examination of several hundred good spe- 
 pimens, the average number of spiral striae appears to be twenty-one, 
 always, even in the youngest individual, terminating on the inferior 
 
PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 563 
 
 half of the last whorl, and have not been found to exceed twenty -five; 
 whereas L. De Koninck reports on the B. Urei, from thirty-six to 
 thirty-eight. Dimensions — Diameter .~ T of an inch ; proportional 
 increase of the last whorl . T 4 -J T to .—„■ of an inch ; including the wings 
 of the mouth ; transverse diameter of the mouth . T Vo °f an inch. 
 
 Remains of fishes, that have not yet been determined, are also 
 found in the shales of this coal. 
 
 COAL NO. 11. 
 This is the next coal in the series, in which we found the remains of 
 mollusca,. For the most characteristic, see plate vin., figs. 1 to 11, 
 and plate ix, fig. 1. They are as follows : Pecten Providencesis, 
 Loxonema regularis, Chimnitgia parva, Pleurotomaria Bonharlorensis, 
 P. depressa, Area carbonaria, Gervillia longispina, Plicatula striato* 
 costata, Myalina pernaformis, Cardinia (?) fragilis, Macrocheilus, 
 gracilis, Orfhis resupinoides, Pedm, species undetermined, Avicula 
 rectalateraria, (not so abundant as in No. 9,) Loxonema Hallii, Loxo- 
 nema, species undetermined, Macrocheilus whabilis, Macrocheilus, spe- 
 cies undetermined, Productus muricatus, rare, P. Bogersii, P equicos- 
 tatus, Athyris subtilita, large and abundant, Cardium, species undeter- 
 mined, Spirifer Meusebachanus, Solenimya, species undetermined, Nu- 
 cula, species undetermined, Orthis, species undetermined, Orthoceratite, 
 species undetermined, Griffithides, species undetermined. 
 
 This coal is usually separated into two members, by a clay parting 
 from one to four inches in thickness, and is overlayed by a limestone. 
 The upper part of this bed of coal is sometimes cannel, and the lower 
 bituminous. It is best developed in Hopkins county — where it at- 
 tains a thickness of nine feet — on the line of the Henderson and 
 Nashville Railroad. 
 
 On the mining property of Edward and William Hawes, at Hawes- 
 ville, Hancock county, No. 11 is found near the top of the hill, a few 
 rods west of their entry into the main Hawesville coal, No. 1, B ; well 
 characterised by its peculiar fossils, and proves a remarkable thinning 
 out of the measures near the eastern boundary of the basin. The ver- 
 tical space between the two is here only two hundred and ten (210) 
 feet, but may be somewhat increased, by the existence of an at pres- 
 ent unknown fault. 
 
564 PALEONTOL0GICAL KEPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SUBVET. 
 
 COAL NO. 11. 
 
 This is the highest coal that we had an opportunity to examine 
 in the series. It is characterised by the remains of fishes, not yet de- 
 termined, and a small orbicula, of which we found no specimen suffi- 
 ciently perfect for description. 
 
 As a full history of the coals, from the bottom to the top of the 
 series, may be found in your report, and that of Mr. Lesquereux, it 
 has been deemed unnecessary to repeat it her©. There will also be 
 seen, by a reference to the above reports, a demonstration of the fact, 
 that the most persistent veins throughout the basin are Nos. 1 B., 9, 
 and 11 — they having been found at every locality where there is suf- 
 ficient thickness of the measures to contain them. 
 
 For a better understanding of the fossil shells found associated with 
 these coals, I herewith submit the annexed descriptions, and accompa- 
 nying plates, Nos. VIII, IX. and X. For the beautiful and accurate 
 representation of the fossil shells on these plates, we are indebted to 
 Mr. John Chappellsmith. 
 
 The importance of the facts established by the survey of the coal- 
 fields of Kentucky, cannot be over estimated. It has developed the 
 various seams, and given characters by which the most important may 
 at all times be known, and having established the identity of one, in 
 any part of the basin, the relative position of the others may easily be 
 known, by reference to the section in the first chapter of your report 
 in this volume. 
 
 Next to agriculture, coal is the most important element of a coun- 
 try's prosperity and wealth. Its importance is just beginning to be 
 felt in the west, and will increase with the constantly diminishing for- 
 est. As a fuel, it is the most convenient and economical, and no 
 country can successfully compete in manufacturing without a cheap 
 supply. It is the rich and well wrought coal-fields of England that 
 enables her to maintain a supremacy in manufacturing, over the world ; 
 deprived of the coal, her importance as a nation would soon be lost. 
 
 In the British Islands not less than fifteen million tons of coal are 
 annually raised, affording employment, in the mining operations, to 
 more than one hundred and fifty thousand people. More than one 
 third of this amount is derived from the Newcastle basin, embracing 
 a superficial area of seven hundred and fifty square miles; whereas, 
 in western Kentucky the coal-field contains more than three thousand 
 
PAL8I0NT0L0GICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL STJRVET. 565 
 
 square miles, with an average thickness of all the coal seams about 
 equal to those of the Newcastle district. 
 
 The superiority of coal as a fuel will be better understood when we 
 consider, that one square mile of forest, containing twenty thousand 
 trees, averaging two cubic yards of solid wood, would be equal to one 
 acre of coal six feet thick. One hundred pounds of coal, occupying 
 about one and a half square feet, will evaporate 1,200 pounds of water, 
 equal to 150 gallons; while 100 pounds of well dried wood, occupy- 
 ing more than double this space, will evaporate only 700 pounds of 
 water, equal to about 88 gallons; and six gallons of water evaporated 
 in an hour is equal to a horse power. 
 
 E. T. COX, 
 
 Assistant Geologist. 
 
566 PALiEONTOLOGlCAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 A description of some of the most characteristic shells, of the principal 
 coal seams in the western basin of Kentucky, by E. T. Cox, Assistant 
 Geologist. 
 
 PECTEN PROVIDENCESIS. Cox. 
 (Plate VIII. fig. 1, left valve natural size.) 
 
 Semi-circular; as broad as high; nearly equilateral; left valve slight- 
 ly convex; about thirty-three broad prominent ribs, of unequal width, 
 and irregularly fluted; radiate from the beak to the circumference; 
 crossed below the disk by two well defined bands, marking stages of 
 growth. Anterior ear of the valve under description is wanting, but 
 that of the right valve beneath, is in part exposed, finely ribbed, and 
 crossed by concentric bands; inferior ear finely ribbed, crossed by 
 fimbriating folds, curved outward from the beak. Rostral angle 95° ; 
 height 3.-^-0 inches; width B.^\ inches. Its size and broad fluted 
 ribs renders it easily distinguished from other species. 
 
 Position and locality. Found by the topographical assistant, Sidney 
 S. Lyon, in the limestone which overlays the main coal, No. 11, at 
 the town of Providence, Hopkins county, Kentucky. Fragments are 
 somewhat numerous, but it, is difficult to obtain them in as perfect a 
 6tate of preservation as the one figured. 
 
 LOXONEMA REGTJLARIS. Cox. 
 (P. VIII, fig. 2, natural iize.) 
 
 Elongated; acutely conical; volutions ten; regularly enlarging; con- 
 vex; covered with fine transverse striae; convex in the direction of the 
 spire; sigmoidal on the last whorl; suture small, slightly impressed; 
 body whorl about one half the whole length; colamella lip elongated, 
 slightly reflected; outer lip thin; mouth about twice as long as broad; 
 spiral angle 35°; length 2.-jW inches; width .Jfa inch. 
 
 It most nearly resembles L. Haiti, Norwood and Patten, Jour. Acad. 
 Nat. Sci. June, 1855, but differs in being larger, less acute, and more 
 convex on the volutions. It was found by Sidney S. Lyon, Topo- 
 graphical Assistant, and is converted into pyrites of a bright yellow 
 color and metallic lustre, and is in a fine state of preservation. 
 
PALiEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 567 
 
 Position and locality. Rare, in a dark bituminous soft stratum of 
 pyritiferous carbonate of lime; about one foot above the black shale 
 forming the roof of the Bonharbour coal, No. 11, Daviess county, 
 Kentucky. 
 
 CHIMNITZIA PAEVA. Cox. 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 3, enlarged; 3a natural size.) 
 
 Small; acute; volutions about six ; very ventricose; marked with 
 strong transverse ribs, slightly curved in the direction of the spire, 
 and separated by a deep furrow as wide as the ribs ; body whorl occu- 
 pies about one third the entire length of the shell; columella lip 
 slightly prolonged; mouth subcircular; length .^% inch; width 
 • T | o inch. 
 
 Position and locality. Occurs in the dark bituminous, pyritiferous, 
 calcareous stratum over the shale roof of Bonharbour coal, No. 11, 
 Daviess county, Kentucky. 
 
 PLEUROTOMARIA BONHARBORENSIS. Cox. 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 4, enlarged; 4a natural size.) 
 
 Small; conical; a little longer than wide; volutions six; acutely 
 convex; marked with a well defined concave band; distinct on all the 
 whorls, and crossed with fine striee; convex in the direction of the 
 spire; ten to twelve spiral lines on the under part of the last whorl, 
 diminishing to two or three on the preceding whorls; crossed by fine 
 transverse striae, rather strongly curved with the convexity in the di- 
 rection of the mouth, giving a beautiful reticulation on the under part 
 of the last whorl, and ornamenting the preceding whorls, on the upper 
 part, with two to three spiral rows of small tubercles; spiral angle 
 about 75°; length .^V inch; width .-^V mc h- 
 
 It differs from the P. Grayvillensis, Norwood and Pratten, Jour. 
 Acad. Nat. Sci., June, 1855, pi. ix., fig. 7, by its ornaments, and in 
 being more acute. 
 
 Position and locality. Abundant, in the roof shales of the Bon- 
 harbour coal No. 11, Daviess county, Kentucky. 
 
 ARCA CARBONARIA. Cox. 
 (PI. VII, fig. 5, natural size.) 
 
 Transversly elongated; beaks not elevated; anterior extremity 
 short; obtusely rounded; tumid at the umbo, from which a slight ob- 
 
568 PALEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 lique mesial sinus extends to the base, where it becomes profound; base 
 emarginated; hinge area straight, almost forming a right angle with 
 the posterior margin which is nearly straight; slightly sinuate above; 
 obtusely rounded below; upper posterior part obliquely truncated; 
 surface covered with concentric lines marking stages of growth, and 
 fine radiating ribs, numbering on the disk about seven in one and a 
 half lines; width l. T Vo inches, height . T 6 T 9 ,- inch. 
 
 Position and locality. Rather abundant in the limestone over the 
 main coal No. 11, at Providence, Hopkins county; also in a limestone 
 over an equivalent coal on the property of Edward and William Hawes, 
 near Hawesville, Hancock county, Kentucky. 
 
 GERVILLIA LONGISPINA. Cox. 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 6, left valve natural size.) 
 
 Lunate; hinge area straight; posterior ear defined by a deep sinus; 
 hollowed out on its lateral margin, and terminated by a long spine; 
 beak depressed, pointed; anterior margin and base together form a 
 semicircle; eliptically pointed at the posterior extremity; posterior 
 border slightly concave, from which rises an abrupt ridge, gradually 
 declining to the base and anterior border; anterior ear wanting; sur- 
 face covered with fine strise and strong marks of growth; length from 
 beak to posterior extremity l. T W inches, height .— 3 7 inch. This re- 
 markable species has no analogy with any other with which we are 
 acquainted. A portion of the spine has been restored from fragments 
 found in the rock. 
 
 Position and locality. Not uncommon in the limestone which over- 
 lays the main coal No. 11, at Providence, Hopkins county, Kentucky. 
 
 PLICATULA STRIATO-COSTATA. Cox. 
 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 7; right valve natural size.) 
 
 Triagonal; inequilateral; right valve moderately convex; from nine 
 to ten large elevated ribs arise irregularly below the beak, increasing in 
 size to the circumferance, separated from one another by deep furrows, 
 crossed about one-third the length above the base by an irregular con- 
 centric groove, below which, on the anterior side, the ribs are slightly 
 bent forward, giving the appearance of having been broken ; above this 
 are two other rather indistinct bands; surface and ribs covered with 
 fine irregular thread-like strise, increasing by intercalation, rising from 
 
PAL^EONTOLOGICAL report of geological survey. 569 
 
 each side, and terminate on the summit of the ribs, numbering, at 
 three lines from the beak, sixteen in the space of two lines; base se- 
 micircular, creuulated; height 1 .^% inches; width l.-j%V inches, 
 
 Position and locality. From the limestone over the main Provi- 
 dence coal, No. 11, Hopkins county, Kentucky. 
 
 MYALINA PERNAFORMIS. Cox. 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 8; right valve natural size.) 
 
 Sub-quadrate; inequilateral; beak pointed, projecting beyond, and 
 moderately curved over the cardinal border; cardinal border nearly 
 straight; anterior margin and base rounded; posterior margin straight; 
 near which a prominent ridge gradually slopes to the front and base; 
 surface covered with strong concentric, somewhat fimbriating lines of 
 growth; length l. T W inches; width . r \\ inch. 
 
 Position and locality. Common in the limestone over the main coal 
 No. 11, at Providence, Hopkins county, Kentucky. 
 
 PLEUROTOMARIA DEPRESSA. Cox. 
 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 19, 10a; natural size.) 
 
 Small; lenticular; depressed; about five volutions scarcely eleva- 
 ted; nearly flat above; defined by a row of acutely pointed tuber- 
 cles, not so wide as the intervening notch; last whorl obtusely round- 
 ed below, bordered by a sharp edge, which has a narrow depressed 
 band above, only visible when the implanted tubercles are removed; 
 ornamented on the upper and lower side with obsolete lines of growth 
 bent backwards; umbilicus shallow; mouth notched; columella and 
 outer lip rounded; height .-j\% inch; width .-j%V inch ; spiral angle 
 130°. 
 
 This species may at first easily be mistaken for P. sphcerulata, 
 Conrad, (P. coromda Hall; Stansbury's expedition to the Great Salt 
 Lake, 1852, page 413, pi. 4, fig. 6,) but is much more depressed, and 
 the angle of the last whorl more acute. The tubercles not so numer- 
 ous, and less elevated. 
 
 Position and bcality. Common in the shale forming the roof of 
 No. 11 coal, at Bonharbour, Daviess County, and Airdrie, Muhlenburg 
 county, Kentucky. 
 
 72 
 
570 PAL-fflONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 CARDINIA? FRAGILIS. Cox. 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 9; left valve natural size.) 
 
 Shell very thin ; transversely ovate; beak scarcely elevated; an- 
 terior slope slightly hollowed; anterior extremity short, rounded be- 
 low; base and posterior side obtusely rounded; hinge line straight, 
 slightly truncated behind the beak ; surface covered with broad con- 
 centric furrows; height .-jVo inch; width l.-jVk inches. 
 
 It is difficult, from the poorly preserved specimens now collected, 
 to determine the genus with certainty ; but believing it to be a char- 
 acteristic shell, have placed it conditionally amongst the cardinia. 
 When well preserved the valves may be found ornamented with fine 
 concentric striae. 
 
 Position and locality. Abundant in the black shale, which some- 
 times forms the roof of No. 11 coal, at Airdrie, Mublenburg county, 
 Kentucky. 
 
 MACROCHEILUS GRACILIS. Cox. 
 
 (PI. VIII, fig. 11, enlarged; fig. 11 a, natural size.) 
 
 Small; conical; about six volutions; convex; suture small; last 
 whorl half the length of entire shell ; columella lip elongated; slight- 
 ly refected; mouth subovate; length .-j^inch; width .-jJ^inchj 
 spiral angle 56°. 
 
 It differs from M. acutus, Sow.-, by the more rapid increase of the 
 whorls, prolougation of the columella lip, and less rotundity of the 
 mouth. Though the specimen under description is most likely a 
 young shell, it cannot be confounded in any stage of developement 
 with its cogenitors. 
 
 Position and locality, Common in the shale over No. 11 coal, Bon- 
 harbor, Daviess county, Kentucky. 
 
 ORTHIS RESTJPINOIDES. Cox. 
 {PI. IX, fig. 1, end view, natural size; fig. 1 a, entering valve; fig. 1 b, profile.) 
 
 Hinge line straight; less than the width of the shell ; cardinal area 
 well marked, gradually sloping back on the receiving valve; large 
 angular foramen ; both valves covered with fine thread-like strise, radi- 
 ating from the beaks to the circumference, numbering on the disk thir- 
 teen in .-^ of an inch, crossed by fimbriating lines marking stages of 
 growth; obsolete on the umbo; well marked and more numerous from the 
 base for one third the length; receiving valve moder<#Jy convex ; 
 
PAL.EONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 571 
 
 greatest depth at the umbo; beak small, acute, elevated above and 
 gradually sloping, with a slight depression to the sides ; entering valve 
 remarkably ventricose, and a little longer than the receiving valve ; 
 greatest depth at the disk; a very obscure shallow sinus is perceptible, 
 running from the rostrum to the disk, where it is lost or obliterated by 
 the crushed condition of the base of the shell ; surface ornamented 
 with five or six broken spines, two lines in diameter and about the 
 same height, and sevei al scars of missiug spines ; beak very tumid, 
 acutely terminated, slightly incurved, moderately arched on the car- 
 dinal margin; sides obtusely rounded, broad and distinctly marked 
 by rugose fimbriating lines of increment; width l. T W inches; length 
 .l. T W inches; hinge line l.^V inches; depth of receiving valve 
 .y 3 ^ inch ; depth of entering valve .y^ ; width of cardinal area .J— 
 inch; depth .-j%^- inch. 
 
 Though several authors have suggested the appearance of scars left 
 by spines, on some species of orthis ; this is believed to he the first 
 specimen of the genus upon which they have actually been found 
 attached. 
 
 The great convexity of the entering valve, the obtuseness of both 
 valves at their lateral border, and the greater prolongation of the en- 
 tering valve, distinguishes this species from the 0. resupinat'a, (Mart, 
 sp.,) to which it is most nearly related. 
 
 Position and locality. From the siliceous micaceous shale forming 
 the roof of the upper coal, No. 11, at Mr. Hawes' mine, Hawesville, 
 Hancock county, Kentucky. 
 
 AVICULA RECTA-LATERAREA Cox. 
 
 (PI. IX, fig. 2, right valve natural size.) 
 
 A little higher than broad; inequilateral; slightly oblique; covered 
 with numerous radiating ribs, increasing in number by the intercala- 
 tion of new ones, occasionally by dichotomy; nearly as high as broad; 
 a little wider than the space which separates them from one another; 
 anterior ear extends to the lateral border, with which it nearly forms a 
 right angle ; posterior ear a little shortpr than the anterior, is not ter- 
 minated by an angle, but by a rounded and well defined by a notch at its 
 base; umbo slightly, tumid, crossed by irregular concentric wrinkles; 
 surface and ears covered with fine striae, and fimbriating lines of in- 
 prenjeat ; , ajitjerior side „ rectalineal ; base afld posterior s^tle, ^obtusely 
 
572 PAIuEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURTET. 
 
 rounded; hinge area straight; a little narower than the shell; height 
 •tVo °f an m °h; width .~\ of an inch; anterior ear .-j^-g- of an inch ; 
 posterior ear .—-j of an inch. 
 
 It is easily distinguished from A. papyracea, Soiit., with which it has 
 been confounded, by the absence of a notch on the side, at the ex- 
 tremity of the anterior ear, and from the A. subpapyracea, De Ver.^ 
 with which it is more nearly related, by its less obliquity, straight an- 
 terolateral margin, wrinkles on the umbo, and simple ribs. 
 
 Position and locality. It is most usually found converted into yel- 
 low pyrites, and in great abundance in the black shale forming the roof 
 of No. 9 coal, at the Kentucky Coal Company's and Curlew mines, 
 Union eounty, Kentucky, and in the equivalent beds of Gallatin coun- 
 ty, Illinois. 
 
 A species, which we have not been able to distinguish from this, 
 occurs also, but not as abundant, in coal No. 11, at " Thompson's vein," 
 at Curlew mines, Union county, and at Bonharbour, Daviess county, 
 Kentucky. 
 
 AVICULA A COSTA. Cox. 
 (PI. IX, fig 3; right valve natural size.) 
 
 Small ; inequilateral ; very oblique ; sub-elliptical ; wings termina- 
 ting in small acute angles; anterior half as broad as the shell; pos- 
 terior very small ; surface and wings covered with fine concentric 
 striae; no ribs; height . T W of an inch; width .^% of an inch cardi- 
 nal border .-^\ of an inch. 
 
 Position and locality. This small and fragile species" is found in 
 great abundance in the roof shales of No. 9 coal, in Union county, 
 Kentucky, and equivalent beds, Gallatin county, Illinois, and appears 
 to be characteristic of this vein, not having j et been found in any 
 other position. 
 
 NAUTILUS DECOBATUS. Cox. 
 {PI. IX, fig. 4, profile natural size ; fig. 4 a, portion of the same showing, teptum and siphuncle; 
 
 fig. 46, outline of the septu. 
 
 Discoidal; whorls two and a half, not embracing, increasing in width 
 in the proportion of .-j%V to .—J^ of an inch; obtusely rounded on the 
 periphery; sides slightly convex; deeply plicated, forming elevated 
 ridges, one to each septa, and curved in the same direction; a depres- 
 sion in their centre produces two rows of small tubercles, more promi- 
 
PAUEONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 573 
 
 nent on the last than preceding whorls, most decided on the outer 
 edge ; septu along the central third of the periphery slightly curved 
 backwards; regularly curved backwards on the sides; where the shell 
 has been well preserved it is closely covered with fine striae, strongly 
 arched backwards, on the periphery, into tongue shaped markings ; 
 siphuncle medium size ; central or nearly central ; umbilicus open, 
 showing all the whorls ; mouth transverse, subreniform ; vertical 
 height .yVo of an inch; transverse diameter .y^ of an inch; greatest 
 diameter of the shell l.yVff m °hes; depth of septu next to the last 
 chamber . T Vo of an inch. 
 
 This beautifully ornamented Nautilus, differs from the N. tuhercu- 
 latus, Sow., with which it is most nearly related, in not being concave 
 on the sides, as well as in its markings and the outline of its septu. 
 
 Position and locality. It is found crushed in the roof shales of No. 
 9 coal, at the mines of the Kentucky Coal Company, Union county, 
 Kentucky, and in a more perfect state of preservation in the fossilif- 
 erous nodules of calcareous sulphuret of iron in the same shale; 
 which, when thrown out, decompose, from the action of the atmosphere 
 and yield readily their store of fossils to the collector. 
 
 SOLENIMYA SOLENIFORMIS. Cox. 
 
 (PI. IX, fig. 5; natural size.) 
 
 Transversely elongated; inequilateral; beaks not elevated, sloping 
 to the front, about one-third the length from the anterior end ; ex- 
 tremities and base obtusely rounded— more decided anteriorly in 
 young than in adult specimens; cardinal border straight; surface 
 covered with concentric lines and furrows ; length 2. T 7 -g- 4 -g- inches ; width 
 l.-jS/o- inches. 
 
 Position and locality. It is very abundant in the black shale which 
 forms the roof of No. 9 coal, on the property of the Kentucky Coal 
 Company, Union county, Kentucky, and in the same character of 
 shale, over the thirteen inch coal, in the bed of the Ohio river, at the 
 head of French Island. 
 
 PRODUCTUS MURICATUS. Norwood and Pratten. 
 
 PI. IX, fig.. 6; natural size.) 
 
 For description, see Journal Academy Natural Sciences, Aug., 1854, 
 pi. 1, fig. 8. 
 
574 PAL&0NTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Position and locality. Characteristic of coal No. 9, and found in 
 great abundance in the black shale forming its roof, at the Curlew and 
 Kentucky Coal Company's mines, Union county ; at Lewisport, Han- 
 cock county, Kentucky; and at the Saline and Shawneetown Compa- 
 ny's mines, Gallatin county, Illinois. 
 
 GONIATITES NOLINENSIS. Cox. 
 (PI. X, fig. 1, quarter view natural size; fig. la, outline of dorsal aeptu ;» fig. 16, outline of 
 
 ventral septu.) 
 
 Discoidal; one and a half to two whorls, increasing in the propor- 
 tion of .-j%° 7 of an inch to l.-iVo inches; periphery very convex; sides 
 obtusely rounded; umbilicus large, round, vertically walled; dorsal 
 lobe and sinus dart shaped, first lateral lobe elliptically pointed, a little 
 longer and broader than the dorsal ; lateral sinus angular, acutely 
 pointed, about twice as broad, and one-third longer than the dorsal; 
 second lateral lobe subovately rounded ; ventral sinus longer and more 
 acute than the corresponding dorsal lobe; second ventral lobe obtuse- 
 ly rounded, and broader than the lateral sinus, with which it corres- 
 ponds; mouth moderately transverse; greatest diameter 2. T y-g- inches; 
 width of umbilicus . T Vo of an inch; transverse diameter of mouth 
 I-tVo inches; vertical hight l. T Vo inches. 
 
 It is closely related to G. crenistria, Philip but diners in having the 
 last chamber less transverse; umbilicus larger, and the dorsal lobe 
 acutely pointed ; not bifid, as in the Q. crenistria. The specimens 
 found are not well enough preserved to show any ornaments that may 
 have existed on the .shell, they are all, converted into oxide of iron; and 
 like their associates Mferratus, ; nob. andiVi canaliculars,, nob.h&ve 
 been used at Nolin Furnace for the manufacture; of iron. 
 
 Position and locality. Nolin Iron Works Edmonson county, 'Ken- 
 tucky, in ( a thin stratum of , ferruginous fire-clay with fragments of 
 coal closely resembling charcoal, about one hundred, feet above the 
 conglomerate. 
 
 NAUTILUS FERRATUS. Cox. 
 (PI. X, fig 2, half natural size; fig. 2a section natural size. 
 
 Globose, convoluted, whorls two, embracing, increasing in width in 
 the proportion of l.-jVo- inches to 2. ^'^ inches, regularly rounded on 
 
 'Explanation of the nomenclature. Fig. la, the arrow is in the dorsal lobe, and points 
 to the mouth in the direction of increase; d, dorsal lobe; d, s, dorsal sinus; 2', first lateral 
 lobe; I, «', first lateral sinus; I", second lateral lobe. Fig. lb, », s, ventral sinus; v, I', first 
 ventral lobe; », «". sesond ventral sinus; e, 2", second ventral lobe. 
 
PAL&ONTOLOGICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 575 
 
 the periphery and sides ; septu obtusely curved backwards on the sides, 
 rapidly rising forward into conical arches on the middle of the peri- 
 phery, about three lines apart in the middle where two inches wide; 
 periphery marked in casts with an obsolete band about one line in 
 width; last chamber large, about as deep as wide; mouth subreniform ; 
 umbilicus moderately large, profound, nearly vertically walled, slight- 
 ly enlarged on the last whorl. Diameter S- T 3 -g^ inches; transverse 
 diameter of mouth about 2. 1 % 1 - 5 - inches; vertical height l. T V"o inches; 
 width of umbilicus -j\ 4 -g- of an inch. 
 
 It is readily distinguished from iVi globatus, Sow., and iV". bilobatus, 
 Sow., with which it is related; by the size and shape of its septu, and 
 the less rapid increase of its whorls. The specimen under description 
 is destitute of spiral or transverse striae, though it is possible they may 
 exist when found in a more perfect state of preservation. 
 
 Position and locality. Found in great abundance, converted into 
 oxide of iron and mostly imperfect; associated with G. Nolinensis, noi. 
 about one hundred feet above the conglomerate, in a stratum of ferru- 
 ginous fire-clay and carbonaceous matter; Nolin Iron Works, Edmon- 
 son county, Kentucky. Being an excellent ore it has contributed 
 largely for the manufacturing of iron. 
 
 NAUTILUS CANALICULATUS. Cox. 
 (PI. X, fig. 3, natural size; fig. 3 a, section of a smaller specimen.) 
 
 Discoidal, whorls two, to two and a half, increasing in width in the pro- 
 portion of . T V-o to l. T W inches; obtusely rounded on the sides; broad, 
 but shallow groove on the periphery, diminishing in depth from the 
 mouth backwards, obsolete on the first whorl when exposed, a narrow 
 indistinct band extends along the centre of the dorsal groove in well 
 preserved specimens ; septu about two lines apart in the middle, where 
 three quarters of an inch in width, curved backwards on the sides and 
 periphery, on the rounded edges of the groove they bend semi-ellipti- 
 cally forward ; umbilicus large, deep, vertically walled, exposing par- 
 tially all the whorls ; mouth transversely subovate ; diameter 2.- i % , - 5 . 
 inches; vertical height of the mouth, about l.-iW inches; transverse 
 diameter l. T Vo inches ; width of umbilicus .-£—■ of an inch. 
 
 It differs from the N. sulcatus, Phil, by its rounded sides, greater 
 breadth on the periphery, smaller and more vertically walled umbilicus. 
 
 Position and locality. Abundant in the same bed with G. Nolien- 
 
576 PAL^IOfJTOLOaiOAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY - 
 
 sis and i\£ ferratus. Nolin iron works, Edmondson county, Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 LINGULA TJMBONATA. Cox. 
 (PI. X, fig. 4, entering valve enlarged; fig. 4 a, natural size.) 
 
 Subpentagonal, longitundinally elongated, very tumid at the umbo ; 
 beak elevated, pointed, not projecting beyond the cardinal border; 
 greatest width about one- third the length below the beak; sides nearly 
 parallel, slightly convex and narrowing towards the front ; front very 
 obtusely rounded, posterior lateral margins rather acutely rounded, 
 uniting in an elliptical point at the beak; slightly flattened along the 
 mesial line, commencing from a point near the beak, and gradually 
 widening to the front margin, a little pinched in near the umbo ; sur- 
 face beautifully marked with fine concentric, strise between the more 
 distinct lines of growth ; length .jW °f an i ncn > width -^~ of an 
 inch. 
 
 This species is easily recognized in well preserved specimens, by 
 its prominent umbo, and its peculiar longitudinally flattened mesial 
 area. It attains a much greater size, but we have none larger suffi- 
 ciently perfect to figure. 
 
 It is highly characteristic of No. 1, B, coal, and has been found in 
 beds of this level, by Mr. Lesquereux, in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
 
 Position and locality. Very abundant in the black slate roof of No. 
 1, B, coal, at Bell's mines, Crittenden county ; Casey's mines, Union 
 county, and Hawesville mines, Hancock county, Kentucky. 
 
IISTDEX. 
 
 Actinocrinus abnormis, 
 
 Area carbonaria, .... 
 
 Ashes of coal, color of, ...... 
 
 Asterocrinus capitalis, .....-» 
 
 Asterocrinus? coronarius, - ... 
 
 Avicula aeosta, ....... 
 
 Avicula rectalatetaria, ... . . 
 
 Cardinia? fragilis, .... 
 
 Chemnitzia parva, - ... 
 
 Coal, Ardrie, Muhlenburg county, fossils of, - 
 
 Coal, Battery-rock, fossils of, 
 
 Coal beds of Kentucky, horizontal exposition of, 
 
 Coal, Bell's mine, Crittenden county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Bonharbor, Daviess county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Breckinridge, fossils of, - 
 
 Coal, Casey's mine, fossils of, ----- 
 
 Coal, Curlew mines, Union county, fossils of. 
 
 Coal-fields of Kentucky, western, palaeontological characters 
 
 Coal, Hartford, Ohio county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Hawesville, fossils of, - 
 
 Goal, Henderson shaft, fossils of, - 
 
 Coal, Jackfield, Hopkins county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Lewisport, Hancock county, fossils of, - 
 
 Coal, Llewellyn mine, Union county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, lower, Lesley's description of, in Pennsylvania, 
 
 Goal Measures, Barren, .... 
 
 Goal Measures, fossil flora, 
 
 Coal, M'Nairy, Muhlenburg county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Miller's, Muhlenburg county, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Mulford's mines, Union county, fossils of, 
 
 Coals No. 1 to No. 12, fossils of, - 
 
 Coal No. 1 B, fossil shells of, 
 
 Coal No. 9, fossils shells of, 
 
 Coal No. 1 1 , fossil shells of, - - 
 
 Coal, Old Distillery, fossils of, .... 
 
 Coal, Peaks of Otter, fossils of, 
 
 Coal, Pigeon run, Hopkins county, fossils of, 
 
 Goal, Providence, Hopkins county, fossils of, 
 
 of, 
 
 4*9 
 567 
 512 
 472 
 476 
 572 
 571 
 570 
 567 
 547 
 627 
 524 
 529 
 547 
 532 
 529 
 
 - 542,546 
 
 - 522, 526 
 
 543 
 531 
 544 
 542 
 544 
 546 
 650 
 552 
 499 
 543, 544, 548 
 547 
 542 
 527 to 554, 560 
 560 
 561 
 563 
 530 
 543 
 547 
 746 
 
578 INDEX TO PAL^iONTOLOGICAL REPORTS OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 Coal, theory of its formation, 502,512 
 
 Coal, Thompson's mine, Union county, fossils of, - - - - 346 
 
 Coal, Union mines, Crittenden county, fossils of, 531 
 
 Coal, value of, -. 564 
 
 Codaster attenuatus, * ... .... 493 
 
 Dismal Swamp, approximate cross section of, .... 508 
 
 Dolatocrinus lacus, ... ... 483 
 
 Drummond's lake of Dismal Swamp, - - 508, 509 
 
 Explanation of plates of Coal Measures Molusca, - 577 
 
 Explanation of plates of Crinoidea, ...... 495 
 
 Fire-clay of Coal Measures, - ..... 511 
 
 Fish remains in shales of coals Nos. 7, 9, and 12, - - - 540, 549, 560 
 
 Fossil trees in sandstone of Coal Measures, 520 
 
 Gervillia longispina, 568 
 
 Goniatites nolinensis, ---..-... 574 
 
 Limestones of the Coal Measures, ...... 519 
 
 Lingula umbonata, ------_._ 575 
 
 Loxonema regularis, ......... 535 
 
 Macrocheilus gracilus, -..-..-.. 579 
 
 Mylina pernaformis, - - 569 
 
 Nautilus canaliculars, - - 575 
 
 Nautilus decoratus, - -.-... 572 
 
 Nautilus ferratus, - - - .... 574 
 
 Olivanites angularis, - - 492 
 
 Olivanites Verneuilii, 487 
 
 Orthis resupinoides, ... ..... 570 
 
 Paleeontological characters of the western coal-fields of Kentucky, - 522, 526 
 
 Paleeontological report on the Coal Measure Molusca, ... 557 
 
 Palseontological report of Sidney S. Lyon, .... 435 
 
 Palseontological report of the fossil flora of Coal Measures, - - 499 
 
 Pecten providensis, ......... 556 
 
 Pentremites obesus, - 469 
 
 Pleurotomaria Bonharborensis, 567 
 
 Pleurotomaria depressa, ....... 559 
 
 Plicatula striato-castata, ----..-. 553 
 
 Productus muricatus, - - . . . . . 573 
 
 Sandstones of the Coal Measures, .... . 520 
 
 Shales, or roof slates, of coal, . 515 
 
 Solenimya solemformis, ... . g^,g 
 
 Vasocrinus sculptus, - - - - . . 435 
 
 Vasocrinus valens, - - - . 495 
 
 *This was printed Alternatus in several places in the report.