Rev. R. M. Luther, while absent in attendance upon the Missionary
Convention, held in Addison, Vt., obtained through the kindness of the
Rev. Mr. Nott a rare and curious geological specimen from the shores
of Lake Champlain. It is a slab of limestone, about eleven inches long
by six inches wide, which seems to be composed almost entirely of
fossils. There is not half an inch square of the surface which does
not show a fossil. There are many varieties, some of which have not
been identified, but among those which have been are many remains of
the Trinucleus conceniricus, some specimens of Petraia, fragments of
the Orthis, a number of Discinæ, several well preserved specimens of
Leptenæ, and impressions of Lingula. The latter is the only shell
which has existed from the first dawn of life until the present time
without change. The specimens of existing Lingula are precisely
similar to those found in the earliest geological formations. There
are also in the slab several rare specimens of seaweed, remains of
which are seldom found at so early an age in the geological history of
the world. The slab belongs to the lower Silurian formation, the first
in which organic remains are found. It is probably from the Trenton
epoch of that age. If geologists can be trusted, at the time the
little animals, whose remains are thus preserved, were living, the
only part of this continent which had appeared above the primeval
ocean was a strip of land along the present St. Lawrence River and the
northern shores of the great lakes, with a promontory reaching out
toward the Adirondacks, and a few islands along what is now the
Atlantic coast line.--_Bennington (Vt.) Banner._
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