270 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Aug. 



almost at right angles to the run of the latter, and their dip devi- 

 ates but very little from the vertical. Sir W. E. Logan (Geology 

 of Canada p. 689) considers it possible that the lead- veins of Bed- 

 ford and Landsdowne, C. W., belong to the same series as those of 

 Rossie. The former seem however to be especially associated with 

 crystalline limestone, and it would seem to be a question of in- 

 terest and importance as to whether the lodes of Rossie tra- 

 versed this rock, and if so, whether it had any influence upon them. 

 To judge from a plan of the workings of the Coalhill mine, shown 

 to me at Rossie, there would seem to occur in it so-called shoots 

 of ore ; but whether these bear any definite relation to the character 

 of the side-rock, has not been ascertained. The investigations of 

 Herman Muller of Freiberg have shown that the nature of the 

 wall-rock has much influence on the contents of the metallic veins 

 of the Erzgebirge, and he divides the gneiss of that region into 

 grey and red, the former exerting a favorable and the latter 

 an unfavourable influence on the contents of the lodes passing 

 through them. It is not improbable that the same varieties of 

 gneiss may occur near Rossie, and influence in a like manner the 

 lodes of that district. 



Besides the lead-veins which are now being worked, numerous 

 others have been discovered, especially on the lands of John and 

 William Robb. The ore is galena, in calcspar, which occasionally 

 contains also iron pyrites in small quantity. The wall-rock is the 

 granitic gneiss mentioned among the rocks of the district, and the 

 general strike of these veins differs from that of the older ones of 



o 



Coalhill, Victoria, and Union mines. They would seem to belong 

 to a different series, having a general strike of about N. 50 Q W. 

 and an almost vertical dip. Several of these veins are well wor- 

 thy of exploration, not only in depth, at the points where they have 

 been uncovered, but also where they cross the other rocks of the 

 country, especially the limestones and fahlbands. 



Rocks of the latter description exist in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the lead-veins just referred to. My attention was 

 first attracted to them by observing pieces of rock much resem- 

 bling a well-weathered fahlband on a ploughed field in the farm of 

 "William Robb. By tracing these southward the rock itself was 

 soon found exposed on the road leading across the farm. It had 

 here a strike of almost north and south (the bearings given are to 

 be always understood as magnetic), which carried it to the southward 

 beneath another ploughed field. On crossing this to the south it 



