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Mineralogy and Geology. 147 



heavy spar, JikoAvise, appears as streaks or intercalations, and the vein 

 also cuts off the ore bed occasionally, and may, perhaps, have been the 

 means of the introduction of that sulphur, which has converted the mag- 

 netic bed into a pyritiferous one at a depth rarely exceeding sixty feet. 

 Accessory minerals "which are found there are : — mesotype, hyalite, 

 quartz, chloritej very pure talc, asbestos, staurotide, and, owing to the 

 decomposition of the pyrites, sulphate of iron. 



The strike of the bed at the Lee and Parker bank is N. 47^ E., its dip 

 60° S. 43° E. The bed continues, with one or two apparent interrup- 

 tions, and crosses to the east of the summit of King's Mountain in North 

 Carolina. That this interruption is a seeming one only and altogether 

 confined to the surface, is decisively evinced by a most singular fact. 

 "When Briggs sank a deep pump shaft at his gold mine in North Carolina 

 some years ago, the works at the Parker as yr^W as the Lee bank, at 

 least thirteen or fourteen miles distant, Avere entirely drained, filling again 

 when he stopped his pumps and draining a second time when Commo- 

 ^ dore Stockton put them in operation again. They thus form, in their 



f southwestern prolongation into our State^ a saddle-shaped alteration in 



. dip, which admits of tm easy explanation in the folds of the rocks, of 

 which this resfion is constituted. 



As an ore, this catawbarite has long been appreciated and will continue 

 ■ so, until the destruction of the forest growth — no remedy for which has 



hitherto been attempted — will render the charcoal used too eicpensive to 

 ) prosecute the manufacture of iron with advantage. This fatal result can 



be avoided only by a thoroughly organized cultivation of woods. 



The ores of this region yield a steel which is probably unrivalled even 

 by that derived from Swedish iron, and their fame has already extended 

 to England." 



3. New Fossil Fishes from the Devonian Rocks of Ohio; by J. S. 

 Newberry, M.D. (Bulletin of the National Institute.) — Dr. Newberry 

 here describes two species of fossil fishes of the new genus Agassichthus 

 Newberry, two of Onychodus^ Newberry, one of Psamruodus^ three of 

 Mackmracanthis^ Newberry, and four of Oracanthus, The genus Agas- 

 sichthys and its species, which were of very large size, are described as 



follows : 



f> Agassichthvs^ Newb. Coelacanth ganoids of large size. Cranial sur- 



^ face covered with thick-set stellate tubercles, either in lines radiating from 



* various centres, or without regular arrangement. Cranium composed of 

 I J*'*g^ plates, united by double sutures which are nearly concealed by the 



* dermal tubercles of the superior surface. Eye orbits conspicuous, and in- 

 cluded in the orbital plates. Teeth in two rows, conical, curved, not pli- 

 cated at base. Scales obscurely rounded; the exposed portion orna- 

 mented Tvlth small tubercles and fine divergent raised lines ; the covered 

 2>ortion marked with lines of growth, and finely reticulated, as in Rhizo- 

 dus^ Ghjjjtolepls^ &c. 



(1.) Agassichihys Manni^ N. The species to which I hare given this 

 name resembles in its general appearance Von Meyer's P. Agassizii, and 

 niay po^ibly prove to be identical with it; but in Von Meyer's specimen 

 no characters remain except the partial outline of some of the plates : in 

 this character his figure and my specimens differ in the outline of the 

 nasal plate. In his specimen it is broader, and the posterior angle greater. 



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