254 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Jan. 



" Rothliegende "period, and generally the latter, in many coun- 

 " tries, shews a decided coincidence, both as regards time 

 " and space, with the formation of the melaphyres." Zirkel, 

 in his recent work on " Petrographie," gives a description 

 of the melaphyre deposits of Germany, of which the fol- 

 lowing is a translation: " In districts which are older than the 

 " Carboniferous formation melaphyre rocks are but seldom found. 

 " The melaphyres of the southern Hundsriick and of the Pfalz, 

 " whose stratigraphical relations are better known than their 

 u mineralogical composition, appear in the Carboniferous system 

 " or the lower Rothliegende. This melaphyre region extends 

 " from Diippenweiler to Kreuznach, a distance of twelve miles, 

 " with a breadth between St. Wendel, Birkenfeld, Kirn, and 

 " Grumbach of several miles. Very few irregular masses are known, 

 " but, on the other hand, numerous veins have been observed with 

 " thicknesses varying from four to sixty feet. They possess 

 " mostly a vertical dip, cut sharply the Carboniferous strata, and 

 " often extend on their strike considerable distances. The mass 

 " of the vein frequently encloses fragments of the side rock, slate- 

 " clay or sandstone. But most frequently in this region, the 

 " melaphyres present themselves in the form of beds, which are of 

 " very variable dimensions, (often only five to ten feet, sometimes 

 " two hundred feet thick,) and lie, for the most part, evenly 

 " inserted between the strata of the Carboniferous system. Some 

 " of these can be traced for a distance of two miles. Besides 

 " these a melaphyre layer appears in this region, extending over 

 " many square miles. It is superimposed upon the upper strata 

 " of the Carboniferous system, and upon it rest the Conglomerates, 

 " sandstones and slate-clays of the Rotidiegende. This great 

 " covering of melaphyre is at its edges accompanied by melaphyre- 

 " tuffs, which are in many places developed as melaphyre-amygda- 

 " loids. In very few instances only has it been observed that 

 " these melaphyres have exerted altering influences upon the side- 

 " rock. Within the limits of the Rothliegende melaphyres are very 

 " frequent. According to Naumann the melaphyre of Ilfeld in 

 " the Hartz, must be regarded as a thick layer bedded into the 

 " Rothliegende. It nevertheless in places lies immediately over 

 " the Carboniferous system, on account of its extending beyond 

 " the edges of the lower strata of the Rothliegende. Naumann 

 " also mentions a mass of melaphyre which inTyrathal covers the 

 " junction of the Greywacke with the Rothliegende, and in its 



