TACONIC QUESTION IN GEOLOGY. 2245 
him supposed to be impressions of stems of Equiseta, with swelling nodes.* This descrip- 
tion recalls the distinctly nodose character exhibited by the so-called Scolithus of the 
Primal quartzite of Pennsylvania, and the cylindrical forms in the Auroral limestone and 
its accompanying strata, elsewhere, which I have compared with them. (§ 34.) 
§ 76. The quartzites of the series present the characteristics which we have recognized 
in those of the Primal series elsewhere, being sometimes conglomerate, and at other times 
massive, compact, concretionary or granular; often with an admixture ofa foliated mineral, 
which gives them a laminated character, and assimilates them to the older crystalline 
schists. This interposed mineral is, according to Lieber, sometimes a mica, and at other 
times chlorite or tale. We have seen that the schistose strata of this series in Pennsylvania, 
and in North Carolina, are sometimes chloritic, or contain the species venerite, a copper- 
chlorite; while at other times they consist wholly or in part of a hydrous mica (damourite 
or sericite), pyrophyllite or true tale. All of these species are probably confounded in the 
common name of talcose, applied to these rocks, though true tale is comparatively rare. 
We have also noticed the occurrence in the schists of this series, in Pennsylvania, of ser- 
pentine, of hornblende and of garnet. Kyanite and rutile, the lattter in large and fine 
crystals, are not unfrequently found in the granular quartzites of the series, and staurolite 
is also met with. 
The lower limestone of Lieber’s section sometimes contains tremolite. Itis marked by 
dark bands, and frequently by talcose seams, which render it unfit for use as a marble. 
In King’s Mountain, this limestone is traversed by auriferous veins, and the quartzites and 
schists of the series are also auriferous, and constitute the chief gold-bearing rocks of the 
southern states. 
§ 77. The iron-ores of the series in South Carolina, other than the limonites, are by Lieber 
included under three varieties. First, an aggregate of magnetite with tale, called by him 
catawbarite, the tale in some cases disappearing; second, a quartzose silicious hematite, 
described as a specular schist, in which foliated hematite takes the place of mica. This, 
by the substitution of magnetite for hematite, passes into a rock which, from a locality in 
Brazil, has been named itabirite. These ores occur in beds or lenticular masses; the latter 
two varieties in the quartzite, and the catawbarite in the talcose schists of the series. 
§ 78. The hydrous iron-ore or limonite, so abundant in this series elsewhere, received 
but little notice from Lieber. He mentions, however, its occurrence in the King’s-Moun- 
tain district, intercalated in decaying talcose slates, with red clays and an underlying 
stratum of kaolin. The limonite is here, as in parts of Pennsylvania (§ 26), associated with 
anhydrous red oxyd, and Lieber conceives this, and some other similar deposits in the 
region, to have originated from the hydration and alteration of specular iron-ore, or of 
magnetite. This view, which has been frequently advanced by others, is, however, incon- 
sistent with the known permanency and unalterable character of the anhydrous oxyds of 
iron, and, moreover, with the well-known origin of the hydrous ore by epigenesis from 
pyrites or from siderite. Lieber himself mentions elsewhere the occurrence of beds of 
limonite intercalated iu the talcose slates of the series, and as due tothe alteration of masses 
of pyrites, which is found unchanged in depth. 

* Shepard, Report to the Swedish Iron Manuf. Co., Charleston, 1854; cited by Lieber, rep. IT., p. 88. 
+ Azoic Rocks, pp. 137, 138, 206. 
