90 k THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



apparent irregularity, giving rise to a beautiful variety of ophical- 

 cite or serpentine-marble. These portions, which are enclosed in 

 the limestone destitute of serpentine, always present a rounded 

 outline. In one instance there appears, in a high naked wall of 

 limestone without serpentine, the outline of a mass of ophicalcite, 

 about sixteen feet long and twenty-five feet high, which, rising 

 from a broad base, ends in a point, and is separated from the 

 enclosing limestone by an undulating but clearly defined margin, as 

 already well described by Wineberger. This mass of ophicalcite 

 recalls vividly a reef-like structure. Within tftis, and similar 

 masses of ophicalcite in the crystalline limestone, there are, so far 

 as my observations in 1854 extend, no continuous lines or 

 concentric layers of serpentine to be observed, this mineral being 

 always distributed in small grains and patches. The few 

 .apparently regular layers which may be observed are soon 

 interrupted, and the whole aggregation is irregular. [This is 

 well shown in plates II. and III. in the original memoir, which 

 recall the acervuline portions, that make up a large part of the 

 Canadian specimens of Eozoon. — Eds.] 



The numerous specimens which were subsequently collected, at 

 the commencement of the winter, show, throughout, this irregular 

 structure, which seems to characterize the Bavarian specimens of 

 Eozoon, as is in part the case in those from Canada. It is true 

 that small lenticular masses or nodules, consisting chiefly of 

 scapolite, measuring fifty by twenty millimeters, and even much 

 more, are often met with, around which serpentine is arranged in 

 a concentric manner ; but even here the serpentine is in small 

 cohering masses, and not in regular layers ; nor could I, after 

 numerous examinations of fragments of such masses, satisfy 

 myself whether I had to deal with the commencing growth of an 

 Eozoon, or merely with a concretionary mass ; since the granular 

 structure of the scapolite centre could never be clearly made out. 

 Moreover the occurrence of these nodules, arranged in a stratiform 

 manner, is opposed to the notion that they are nuclei of Eozoon, 

 although in the parts around these nodules I could sometimes 

 distinctly observe tubuli, canals, and even indications of a shell-like 

 structure. 



The portions of serpentine in the ophicalcite occur of very 

 various sizes, from that of a millet-seed to lumps whose sections 

 measure fifteen by six or eight millimeters. But I think I can 

 detect within certain lines, (which are not, it is true, very well 



