10 KOCK-METAMOBPHISM. 



some instances lying in parallelism. Most of them contain a 

 white, granular, flocculent material, which, from what Sterry 

 Hunt states of the similar substance forming the " canal 

 system of JEozoon"*, will have to be taken for another allo- 

 morph : we have elsewhere distinguished it by the name of 

 flocculitef. Also many of the cracks are filled with calcite. 



The interpolated flocculite and calcite frequently occur to such 

 an extent as to make the serpentine a subordinate constituent 

 of ophite occurring therein as separated plates, lenticuloids, 

 and spheroids, variously excavated or lobulated, and imbedded 

 in a matrix composed of either of the above minerals. 



The calcitic interpolations may often be observed containing 

 portions of flocculite assuming a variety of shapes simulative of 

 microscopic branching algae and corals, such as those under 

 fig. 2/ x > Plate IX. : they are considered to represent another 

 important " eozoonal" structure the " canal system/' 



Similar configurations, consisting of saponite, and imbedded 

 in calcitic interpolations, have occurred to us in Cornish ser- 

 pentine J. Metaxite, another closely related mineral, if not an 

 allomorph, similarly presents itself that is, as multifoliaceous 

 expansions. And we have made known that aggregations of 

 crystalloids of malacolite (a white variety of augite), assuming the 

 most beautiful arborescent or dendritic shapes, are not uncom- 

 mon in the hemithrenes of New Jersey, Aker, and Ceylon ; while 

 a similar rock in the Vosges has lately yielded them to our 

 investigations. 



The presence of spheroids, lenticuloids, and plates of serpen- 

 tine imbedded in calcite brings us into view of the frequent 

 iuterlamellation, in ophites, of these two widely different minerals, 

 especially in those characteristic of the Archaean group of rocks 

 in Canada. The phenomenon is well displayed in what is called 

 the " laminated variety of Eozoon" the layers of calcite being 

 regarded as the " intermediate" or "supplemental skeleton" || 

 of this presumed fossil, and the layers of serpentine as casts of its 



* Intellectual Observer (Dr. Carpenter on "Eozoon"}, vol. vii. p. 294. 



f Quarterly Journ. Geol. Soc. xxii. p. 193. 



I Phil. Mag. ser. 5, vol. i. pi. 2. fig. 13. 



See Plate I. fig. 1. 



|| It is presumed that a layer of ca'lcite ("intermediate skeleton") was 

 bounded on each surface by a "tubulated" lamina (" nummuline wall"), 

 and that the latter enclosed the " chambers " occupied by the sarcodic divi- 

 sions of ft Eozoon," 



