74 Essay on the Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui. 
Arr. VIII.—Continuation of the Essay on the Transition Rocks of 
the Cataraqui; by Capt. R. H. Bonnycastix, R. E. Up. Can. 
(With figures—see the plate.) 
(Continued from Vol. X VIIE, p. 104.) 
- In proceeding eastward from the hill on which the curious tablag 
above mentioned lay, like monumental records of animal races, whose 
very existence would have been otherwise unknown, we pass over a 
rough and uneven portion of the limestone country, where Earth- 
quake appears to have partially exerted his giant power, and here is 
discovered another singular and, as far as I am aware, unusual dispo- 
sition of the calcareous rock. 
In the upper parts of the denuded beds, at certain points, as, for 
instance, at a short distance in front of the road which crosses Point 
Henry and at about one hundred and ten feet above the level of the 
lake, where the layers have been disunited in searching for quarries, 
a sort of faintly marked Ludus Helmontii, resolvable into a series 
of finely graven wavy septaria, may be discovered on the flat and 
weather-worn surfaces. 
These septarian lines, depicted thus on the tabular surfaces, are 
surrounded by undulations, through which the stone is roughened 
into a continuity of little knobs and cups, which a smart blow causes 
to separate along the tortuous lines of the wavy septa, and discloses 
a beautiful series of extremely delicate and minute columns, which 
penetrate, in some instances five or six inches, into the layer of stone, 
but more commonly only to the depth of half an inch or an inch. 
These acicular columns, or rather flutings, are perpendicular to 
the plane of the bed, and are generally terminated by a folding, asit 
were, of their inferior extremities into a crater, whilst however, the 
needles or fibres retain their parallelism, which they, invariably, pre- 
serve throughout their vertical position. The crater, or cup-shaped 
termination is thicker as its hemisphere approaches ‘its lowest part, 
whilst the hair-like prisms are every where else very thin, and indeed, 
are a mere coating to the limestone they envelope. These flutings 
are sometimes very deeply channeled, at others the specimen has 
the outward look of an imperfect prism or cylinder.* 
* I have one large piece, of which a draw ing is subjoined, (sce the ais) which 
height is about three inches, the total length near five and the thickness nearly tw 
