GEOLOGY OE MAINE. 



BY C. H. HITCHCOCK. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. ' 



The Second Annual Report of the Geology of Maine will differ 

 considerably in character from the General Report published last 

 year. Certain elementary remarks were there introduced, and the 

 geology of the whole State was treated of in a strictly systematic 

 form. Consequently it is not necessary now to present elementary 

 principles for the proper understanding of the details, nor would 

 their repetition be judicious. It is impossible to present anything 

 like a system of the geology of the State for similar reasons. We 

 shall not be able either to draw upon other sources than our own 

 explorations for material, as we did last year ; hence the present 

 report cannot be so lengthy as the previous one, and we fear that 

 the multiplicity of scientific details will not be interesting to many. 

 Our only apology is to be found in necessity. 



We have found it quite diflicult to settle upon a satisfactory 

 mode of arranging our materials. Reports are in hand from every 

 quarter of the State, and the nature of the rocks treated of is very 

 diverse ; still no exhaustive classification is possible. The best 

 method we can devise is the following, which we shall attempt to 

 follow strictly ; although we are reminded by its heterogeneous 

 combination, of the distorted, elongated and flattened pebles com- 

 posing a singular conglomerate rock in the State, presently to be 

 described. 



A. Geology of the more southern and settled portions of the 

 State. This will include the results of an unusually protracted 

 examination of the rocks on the west side of Penobscot bay, par- 

 ticularly about Rockland, Thomaston and Camden, illustrated by a 

 geological map. We shall endeavor to give in this sketch some 

 idea of what a Final Report upon the Geology of the State should 

 be ; that is, of the particularity with which descriptions of every 



