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ILXXIII. On the Carboniferous Series of the States of New 

 York and Pennsylvania, By Thomas Weave k, Esq.^ 

 RR,S., RG,S., M.R.LJ., ^c, ^c* 



1 T is only very lately that my attention has been drawn to 

 ^ the observations of Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Carboniferous 

 Series of the United States of North America, published in the 

 Lond. and Edin. Phil. Mag., for December 1836, and which 

 have reference to my notice on the same subject inserted in 

 the same Journal for August 1836. As the author does not 

 in all cases appear to have entered into the full scope of my 

 argument, or to have wholly considered the reasons of my per- 

 suasion that Professor Eaton had established the true position 

 of the anthracitous coal formation in the north-eastern part of 

 Pennsylvania; observing also (p. 410) that " he does not know 

 which of the calcareous rocks is meant by Prof. Eaton as the 

 limestone which supports the strata containing the Pennsyl- 

 vanian coal," perhaps a few additional remarks may serve to 

 throw some further light upon the subject. 



In the notice referred to, I have stated that in the northern 

 part of the State of New York, the progression from north to 

 south, in the ascending order, and extending into Pennsylva- 

 nia, is as follows, — all the beds being in conformable position 

 with a general dip to the southward : 1 . old red sandstone ; 

 2. carboniferous limestone ; 3. coal measures, distinguished by 

 the prevalence of red shales and red sandstones, with beds of 

 sandstone conglomerate and of limestone, the whole forming 

 an alternating series, in which coal appears hitherto to have 

 been rarely met with ; 4. productive coal measures, containing 

 abundant deposits of anthracitouscoal in the coal-fields of Car- 

 bondale and Lackawanna and Wyoming on the Susquehanna, 

 and of bituminous coal in the coal-fields of Bradford, Tioga, 

 Lycoming, and Clearfield. 



The main body of the carboniferous limestone (No. 2.), rest- 

 ing on the old red sandstone (No. 1.), extends from the north- 

 ern extremity of Lake Erie, in an easterly direction, through 

 the State of New York, to the Heklerberg mountain, situated 

 about 20 miles to the S. W. of Albany. Here its course is in- 

 flected to the S. and S.W., and Prof. Eaton states that he has 

 followed this limestone upon that range 120 miles from the 

 Helderberg mountain, extending into Pennsylvania on the 

 right bank of the Delaware river, and being flanked through- 

 out in this direction by transition rocks on the eastf. The 



• Communicated by the Author. 



t Geological Text-Bcok, 2nd edit., pp. 66, 67. 



