Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/486

Rh 452 NEW YOKE [STATE. portions of Canada, but by the cutting off of forests, and the occupation of the surface by farms, the range of the native animals has been greatly reduced, and they have been unceasingly destroyed by man. Formerly the elk, the moose, and the caribou were abundant in the northern part of the State, but are now all exterminated, while the Virginia deer in many localities is still quite plentiful. Of the carnivorous animals, the couguar, the black bear, two species of lynx, the red and grey foxes, the wolf, otter, fisher, pine marten, mink, and skunk still remain, but the wolf is on the eve of extermination, and the wolverine, never abundant, has perhaps migrated northward. Among the rodents the beaver and variable hare are found, but in small numbers, while rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, field- mice, &c., are still unpleasantly numerous. Civilization has made but little difference with the reptiles, birds, and fishes. All the birds indigenous to the eastern portion of the continent may probably at times be found within the State, though their relative numbers are affected by the removal of the forests. Among the reptiles are seventeen species of snakes, three of which, two rattlesnakes and the copperhead, are venomous. The fishes include all the species found in the lower lakes, in the rivers of the temperate portions of the continent, and on the Atlantic coast ; and the fisheries constitute an important element in the revenues and subsistence of the people. The streams and lakes of the more elevated portions contain brook trout in abundance ; those of the lower levels are well stocked with bass, pickerel, perch, and other game fish. The salmon, which formerly inhabited the Hudson and its tributaries, was long since exterminated ; but an effort has been made to restock some of the streams, and, like the German carp recently introduced, it may now be reckoned as an inhabitant of the waters of New York. Some of the interior lakes are stocked with a land-locked salmon, or lake trout, a valuable and interesting fish. The oyster industry of the coast has its chief commercial centre in New York city, and an important fraction of the supply of clams, oysters, lobsters, and sea fish is obtained from the New York coast. Flora. Originally the surface of New York was occupied by an almost unbroken forest, and, as a consequence of the general fertility of the soil, its topographical diversity, and the range of latitude and longitude, the flora is rich and varied. About seventy species of trees are known to inhabit the State, and these include all found in the adjacent portions of the Union and Canada. The most abundant are oaks, of which there are fifteen species, but with these mingle five species each of maple, pine, and poplar, four species of hickory, three each of elm, spruce, and ash, two of willow, cherry, magnolia, and pepperidge, and one each of larch, liriodendron, dogwood, arbor vitas, balsam, yew, sycamore, honey locust, sweet gum, locust, butternut, black walnut, chestnut, beech, hornbeam, basswood, sassafras, and mulberry. On the summits of the Adirondacks a true alpine vegetation is found, though consisting of but a small number of plants ; several of these exist in no other locality in the United States except the mountain summits of Vermont and New Hampshire. The flowering plants and ferns of New York were studied with much care by the late Dr Torrey, and his report upon them forms two of the series of twenty-three quarto volumes which compose the Report on the Natural History of New York. The flowering plants enumerated by Dr Torrey amount to 1540 species, to which a few additions have since been made. The ferns number fifty-four species more than are found in any other State ; the lower forms of plant life, .seaweeds, fungi, lichens, &c., are con stantly supplying new material, and many years will yet be required for their complete elaboration. Geology. The geological structure of New York is more varied and comprehensive than that of any other State, since it includes, with perhaps the exception of the Jurassic, the entire geological column from the Archaean to the Tertiary. A tabular view of the relations of the rocks of New York may be given as follows : Quaternary. Tertiary Cretaceous. , Jurassic. Alluvium, peat, shell-marl, diatomaceous earth. Champlain clays. Glacial deposits. Till, kames, moraines, erratics. Miocene (?).) TT j u~ n, , f a Y Head group. Eocene. * Greensands (?). Raritan group. Long and Staten Island clays, with lignite. Wanting (?). m J Palisade group. Sandstones, shale, and trap of r Coal-measures, wanting. j Mountain limestone, wanting. Carboniferous { &quot;Waverly group, &quot; White Catskill.&quot; L Chemung group. f Gardeau shale. I Cashaqua shale I Genesee shale. I Tully limestone. Hamilton shale. Moscow shale. Encrinal limestone. Marcellus shale. iCorniferous limestone. Onondaga limestone. Schoharie grit passage bed.  Caudagalli grit. (Upper Pentamerus limestone. Scutella limestone. Delthyris limestone. Lower Pentamerus limestone. I Water lime. .1. ) &quot; Onondaga salt group. &quot; Niagara limestone. Niagara shale. Clinton limestone. Clinton shale. Medina sandstone. Oneida conglomerate. Hudson River shales. Utica shale. Trenton limestone. Black River limestone. Birdseye limestone. Chazy limestone. Calciferous sand rock pass age bed. Potsdam sandstone. ( Rossie slate ore and marble. &amp;lt; Troy slates and limestones. ( &quot; Georgia slates.&quot; ( St Lawrence marble. j Mount Marcy norite. &quot;j Gneiss with magnetite. L magnetite, &c. The surface exposures of these rocks can be seen at a glance by reference to the accompanying outline map. The boundaries of the State enclose an area which once formed a part of the eastern declivity of the Archaean continent, of which the Canadian and Adirondack high lands aro the most important representatives. These are composed of Laurentian rocks, and are perhaps the oldest portion of the earth s surface. Upon the slope of this old continent the ocean rose and fell in the different geological ages, cutting away the shore by its waves in its advance, and spreading the debris in sheets of sand and gravel old sea beaches. During long-continued periods of submer gence organic sediments, composed of the hard parts of marine animals, accumulated over the sea bottom. In the process of emergence the shallowing and retreating sea Hamilton group. Devonian - Cormferous group. OnsKany group. Helderberg group. Upper Silurian. Salina group. (L( Niagara group. Medina group. Hudson group. Lower Silurian. Trenton group. Potsdam group. Cambrian. Huronian. Taconic group. Wanting (?). Laurentian .. Adirondack group.
 * Rockland county,
 * Catskill group, &quot; Red Catskill.&quot;
 * Oriskany sandstone.
 * Moriah ophiolite.
 * Highlands gneiss with