484 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. IX, No. 6, 



area of West Virginia show a heavy sandstone known as the 

 Connelsville,** with a base about 110 feet below the Pittsburg 

 coal. It is possible that the sandstone under discussion belongs 

 to this horizon. This rock is very conspicuous along the Hocking 

 River Valley east from Athens, where an unusual thickening 

 brings it up close to the base of the Pittsburg coal. 



Below the sandstone is a coal blossom underlain by a few 

 inches of nodular limestone. This horizon was frequently 

 crossed in five different counties, but workable coal was found at 

 onlv one place near the head of Shade River, in Athens County. 



The succeeding portion down to the Ames limestone is 

 rather variable, consisting of variegated shales with occasional 

 thinbedded sandstones. A short distance above the Ames, 

 however, there is often a red clay which thickens much in some 

 localities. It is known to oil drillers as the "Big Red." When 

 weathered, there results a sticky red gumbo which lends a ruddy 

 aspect to the country roads of Galha, Meigs and other counties. 



The Ames limestone receives its name from a village in Ames 

 Township, Athens County, where the rock is well exposed in 

 numerous outcrops. The interval between the Ames and the 

 Pittsburg coal is about 150 feet, although it may run as low as 130 

 or as high as 175 feet. The limestone is seldom over 30 inches 

 thick. From place to place, a great variation in composition 

 and appearance is noticed. In Rutland Township, Meigs 

 County, the Ames horizon is represented by 10 to 15 feet of 

 calcareous shale with imbedded fossiliferous limestone nodules. 

 In the same township the bed changes to a calcareous, fo.ssilifer- 

 ous, sandstone overlain by a ferruginous chert. Careful search 

 across Mason and Windsor Townships in Lawrence County failed 

 to reveal any trace of the Ames, but it was found outcropping in 

 its proper place at Burlington, Union Township, in the southern 

 part of the County. 



Beneath the Ames there is often a coal blossom. This is 

 wanting in many places and is not known to be of v/orkable 

 thickness anywhere. 



Some ten feet below the Ames occur variegated green, bluish 

 and red shales with zones of hematite ore and nodular limestone. 

 These shales are found everywhere by the oil driller and are 

 known as the "Pittsburg Reds." 



The next persistent horizon is the Patriot lying about half- 

 way between the Ames and Cambridge. It consists of a thin, 

 nodular, fossiliferous limestone underlain by coal. 



Lovejoy^" has given the name "Patriot" to the coal. If the 

 practice of applying the same name to more than one member of 



9 W Va. Geol. Suiv., Countv Hcp'ts uiul Maps, (^liio, Hrooki^ ami Ilaiicofk Counties. 



1906, I), ii;}. 

 10. Geol. Siirv. Ohio, \'ol. \l. p. 6:51. 



