104 



Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui. 



limestone, he will still describe it, particularly, as I was unable to send 

 the drawings to him, owing to my having been absent from Kingston 

 on a tour to Gaspe, Anticosti, and the Labrador coast, which I trust 

 will, when this meets his eye, excuse me from any apparent negli- 

 gence in complying with his wish. 



This basaltiform limestone has, however, a quality which neither 

 that gentleman nor other attentive mineralogists had anticipated, and 

 which renders it the third new mineral, (if I may use that term,) dis- 

 covered in the transition rocks of the Cataraqui. It is an excellent 

 lithographic stone for all the common processes of that admirable art, 

 and is now extensively employed in the surveyor general's office at 

 York, under the management of Mr. S. O. Tazewell, who first 

 adapted it to this use and invented the peculiar manner of applying 

 it, which is somewhat different from that employed on the Manheim 

 or Bath stone. This lithographic limestone is darker than the usual 

 beds of the Cataraqui formation, and I have not seen any fossils in 

 it ; it is very compact and hard, and, if kept at a good temperature, 

 bears the press better than the German stone. 



Canada seems to abound with limestones suitable for all the pro- 

 cesses of lithography ; a white and very pure kind has been found 

 on Anticosti. Mr. Tazewell discovered a cream colored and very 

 beautiful variety in the rear of Belleville, a new and rapidly increas- 

 ing town on the shores of Lake Ontario, between York and Kings- 

 ton, and I have every reason to believe that the. true lithographic 

 stone exists near Lake St. Clair, of which, however, I trust I shall 



■ 



be able shortly to speak, with more decision than hand specimens 

 can authorize me to do. 



Want of time, at present, obliges me to close this paper, which 

 will be continued with the description of the curious amalgamation, 

 or rather intermixture, of the limestone and sienite, and of the sin- 

 gular discovery of fossil organic remains in the very parts of the 

 rock which seem, as it were, to have melted into each other. 



York, Upper Canada, Jan. 1, 1833, 





■ 





