364 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



the west as it approaches the line of eruptive rocks. It is said to be 

 thinner and less pure toward the west, where it breaks up into several 

 benches separated by considerable shale partings. Openings, no longer 

 in operation, were seen along the eastern outcrop south from Cransac, 

 where the extreme thickness reported is 18 feet. At Cransac, one is 

 barely 1,000 feet from the great decouverte of the Societe des Acieries 

 de France. The outcrop of the coal in this space is represented by an 

 oval on the map and the deposit is known as the Couche de Fraysse ; but 

 the coal is continuous from Cransac to Decazeville and the interrupted 

 outcrop indicates only erosion where the anticline is crossed by the 

 Euisseau de Banel. 



Note has been made of a serious disturbance in the beds near Cransac. 

 If one go north-northwest from that city and climb the hill, following 

 a path passing an abandoned opening in the Bourran and crossing the 

 summit near the old house known as la Montet, he sees, in the rolling 

 space beyond, the Fraysse decouverte, which occupies a space of fully 

 half a square mile. A broad complex fold has kept the coal near the 

 surface and made it so readily accessible throughout the space that now 

 comparatively little remains. The present workings on the east side 

 were not visited; the thickness varies from 15 to 20 meters. A vast 

 quantity of coal has been lost by spontaneous combustion, and one por- 

 tion of the area is known as "les Estuves." 



Going northward along the ridge with the old workings constantly in 

 sight at the east, one soon reaches an abandoned decouverte, in which 

 the laminated sandy shales overlying the Bourran coal are dipping 

 sharply toward the west; but within a few rods an anticline is reached 

 and the same beds have eastward dip of ^35 degrees. At the La Gua- 

 Combes road, a quarter of a mile beyond, the lower portion of the bed 

 describes two close folds. West from this point as the road descends 

 toward La Gua, the coal and its overlying laminated sandy shales are 

 shown with sharp westward dip, while the upper part of the bed is high 

 up in the hill overlooking the summit of the road. At this summit, one 

 looks northward to tlie Banel, erosion having removed most of the coal 

 bed along the axial line. 



The fold diminishes northwardly with great speed. At the road sum- 

 mit, only the lowest part of the bed is shown, the greater portion being 

 in the hill at the west. Descending thence towards the decouverte 

 Domergue, belonging to the Decazeville company, one sees the coal out- 

 crop dropping in the hill at the west, while the middle lines of the fold 

 are distinct in the declining hill followed by the steep road. At the 

 Domergue, almost 300 feet below the summit of the La Gua road, the 



