177 



Marietta and Vicinity. Fifteen miles above Marietta, in the 

 Muskingum Valley, there is a bed of coal, buried near the level 

 of the river. It lies under a thick stratum of Sandstone, and 

 between soft slates so easily decomposed that they crumble 

 when exposed to the air. Though the coal here presents the 

 same wood-fibrous texture with that of Zanesville, I found in it 

 no traces of fossil plants. This coal cakes so readily on the fire 

 as to be impeded in its combustion thereby. It exhales a strong 

 odor, not like that of bituminous smoke, but like that of the smoke 

 o{ peat. 



At Marietta, between the thick strata of hard Sandstone, lies 

 a bed of soft, Red Shale, resembling in its color, the Vespertine 

 Red Shale of the Anthracite region. It is only from one to two 

 feet thick, but I saw it in every direction around Marietta for ten 

 or fifteen miles. It is remarkable for its abundance of fossil 

 plants. Three miles west of Marietta, in a small cave which 

 the waters of the Ohio River have cut in the soft Sandstone, and 

 which Dr. Hildreth calls the " Grotto of Flowers," the slates are 

 so much covered with the leaves of Pecopteris cBqualis, that it is 

 not possible to break the smallest piece without observing im- 

 pressions, which are preserved in their most delicate details, 

 even to the smallest remains ; but every trace of the original 

 vegetable matter has disappeared, and there is no carbonaceous 

 matter left. This is exactly as it is with the fossil plants of the 

 Vespertine Red Shale. 



At Barlow, ten miles west of Marietta, the same bed contains 

 the same Pecopteris, with Pecopteris arbor escens, and eight miles 

 further west it is mingled with nodules of Iron ore, some of 

 which contain in their centres, well-preserved fossil plants. 

 There one finds not only, Pecopteris cequalis, and P. arlorescens, 

 but Neuropteris cordifolia, N. heterophylla, Aster ophyllites, 

 many specimens of Sphenopteris, and a fine new Cyclopteris, 

 which I have named Cyclopteris fmhriata. All these species 

 characterize also the upper beds of the Anthracite Basins of 

 Pennsylvania. 



At Pomeroy there is a Coal-bed extensively wrought. This 

 coal does not cake in burning, and is well adapted to the grate. 

 It is from foOr to six feet thick, and lies between thick beds of 

 hard, shaly Sandstone. The roof-slate, between one and two 



PKOCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. 12 MAY, 185-2. 



