PRAT AI PELTED 
Shae a ca eS 
Geology, &c. of the Connecticut. 7 
high, evincing by its white and naked head that it is gneiss 
or granite. On visiting it, he will find it to bea fine grained 
granite. In many parts, however, he will perceive such a 
tendency to stratification, that he may doubt for a mo- 
ment whether it be not gneiss. But upon examination he will 
refer it to granite. The same remark will apply to granite 
in many other parts of New-England. It seems, and proba- 
bly is, in many instances, intermediate between well char- 
acterized granite and gneiss. 
ack Mountain is not many miles in circuit, and on the 
north and ‘west, is succeeded by well characterized gneiss. 
This gneiss is quarried and forms underpinning and step 
stones; specimens of which may be seen in the Ar eaaieaie 
of the Meeting house in Brattleborough, East Village. 
The lack Mountain i noticed some interesting lichens. 
be most monopolizing of these, are the Gysophoras. G. 
oo palais, pacha) in some in- 
cl pi eh: 30 or. Pace! eet high, and 
lease A110 twithstanding, 6 upt 
broad margins, giving Pibems the appearsnes of a chapeau de 
bras. ‘These species are found also on the granite in Mon- 
tague, and on the Srcenrinne in Deerfield, where occurs al- 
so g. deusta. On Black Mountain | likewise noticed in 
abundance Enclocarpon miniatum Ach. and several species 
of Parmelia and Lecidea. aay its top grows Milium in- 
voluium (nov. sp. Torrey, MSS.) 
I cannot but detain the reader a moment to explain the 
strange nomenclature by which those were governed who 
originally gave to this granitic peak the name of Black 
Mountain. Every body in passing is struck with its snow | 
white aspect, and cannot help enquiring the cause of it. I 
was told that in early days, it was burnt over and derived its 
specific appellation from this circumstance. Thus an acci- 
dental and ephemeral fact has vist a name upon it 
which its constant appearance belie 
A similar remark might be made in aioe to the name 
of another mountain in the same vicinity. A person stand- 
ing in Brattleborough East Village, perceives directly east 
of him, on the east bank of Connecticut river, a venerable 
mountain 800 or 900 feet high, seeming almost to threaten 
him with its overhanging fragments. On enquiring the 
