Section of Ferruginous Strata, 135 



former ; it was several feet in length before broken ; the undulating, 

 circular annuli, are very peculiar. It is an inch and a half in diam- 

 eter, and two in length; the center cavernous. No. 65, (page 15 

 of the wood cuts,) is evidently a fleshy root of some plant. The 

 figure is the natural size, deep transverse folds are placed at short 

 distances throuo;h the whole length. I have several similar ones. 

 The fossils from this bed are all perfect iron ore. The specific grav- 

 ity of this ore is 2.46. — 3 feet. 



6. Lime rock — oolitic, in thick beds, compact and solid, of rath- 

 er a dark carbonaceous color, containing particles of white calcare- 

 ous spar, and numerous species of imbedded shells of the families 

 Product^, Spirifer, Encrini, &:c: Figures of shells, Nos, 38, 39 

 and 40, (page 26 of the wood cuts,) are from this bed. Descrip- 

 tions given as above. This bed is eleven feet in thickness and af- 

 fords a supply of calcareous material, used in fluxing the ores at the 

 adjacent furnaces. — 11 feet. 



7. Fine grained, argillaceous sandstone rock. The particles of sand, 

 fine and round, cemented by a fine clay with a little iron. The up- 

 per portion of the bed is light colored ; the lower, darker and va- 

 negated with different shades of brown. It resists the most intense 

 heat and is used in the erection of furnace hearths, for which it 

 IS most admirably fitted — a few miles above Portsmouth, near the 



nver, this deposit is found on the tops of the hills.- — 80 feet. 



8. Argillaceous Iron ore, in nodules and lumps, generally kidney 

 shaped and flattened ; imbedded in marl or fine clay, beneath the 

 ore, there is usually a thin stratum of lime. It is a rich ore yield- 

 ing forty or fifty per cent of the best quality of foundery, or cast- 

 iron.— Bed 1 foot. 



9. Sandstone rock, rather coarser than the bed above — grains 

 niore flattened and containing: some mica. — 80 feet. 



10. Bituminous coal of a good quality, and two feet In thickness, 

 has lying over it a bed of shale of four feet, with vegetable impres- 

 sions between the layers, and below it a bed of dark colored marl 

 and otiire, changing gradually into sandstone the entire carbonace- 

 ous deposit of coal and shale, — 7 feet. 



11- Argillaceous sandstone, light brown, and compact 



■affording 



good 



75 feet- 



12. Siliceous, or sandy iron ore, affording a less quantity of iron, 

 than either of the other ores, and not much used where the others 

 can be procured. — IJ feet. 



