1891.] 21 [Lesley. 



known to me. Had my advice been asked 1 should have dissuaded from 

 a costly attempt to find oil or gas in this formation. The record of the 

 boring, however, is valuable to the geological student as the hole descends 

 through 2076 feet of nearly horizontal strata of gray and brown mostly 

 soft sandstone and shale, with some dark ("black") slate, one stratum of 

 which (called "anthracite coal ") produced an excitement in the district, 

 and was extensively published by the newspapers. 



It is almost needless to say that a bed of anthracite coal in undisturbed 

 strata of Mesozoic age, and at a distance from trap, would be an incredi- 

 ble occurrence. The trap of the Richmond, Va., field only turns the bitu- 

 minous coal bed to coke. 



It is also hardly necessary to explain that a "nine foot bed of anthracite 

 coal " anywhere in the brownstone belt of Bucks and Montgomery coun- 

 ties could hardly conceal itself underground. All the strata crop out to 

 the surface ; and such a stratum could not well escape exposure. Even 

 smaller lenticular bituminous coal seams like those on Deep and Dan 

 rivers in North Carolina, ranging in thickness from four feet down to one 

 foot, show somewhere at their outcrops. Even if the well record at this 

 point of it were clearer than it is, the fact of the existence of any con- 

 siderable coal bed (especially an anthracite bed) would have to be care- 

 fully verified, either by several additional trial holes, or by a shaft, before 

 being believed by any geologist versed in the characteristic features of 

 this formation. 



Riegelsville is 166' above tide, and the Revere well mouth is supposed 

 to be about 200 A. T. Its record is as follows : 



8' Alluvion From the surface down to 8' 



102 Sandstone, brown Down to 118 



15 Shale, red 133 



5 Shale, bluish, soft . 138 



10 Shale, blue, hard 148 



56 Sandstone, dark brown ; with coaly specks 204 



7 Sandstone, brown, very fine grained 211 



2 " Black slate," soft " 213 



4 Shale, blue, hard 217 



223 Sandstone, red, very hard 440 



Slate, purplish, very gritty, here. 



4 Sandstone, brown, fine grained 444 



31 Sandstone, gray, very micaceous 475 



10 Sandstone, gray, hard rock 485 



100 Sandstone, reddish brown 585 



5 Sandstone and shale, gray 590 



5 "Black slate," soft 595 



32 Shale, reddish blue, very hard 627 



44 Sandstone, reddish brown 671 



21 Sandstone, brown, and blue shale, coarse and fine. . . . 692 



