3 4 FRA NK DA WSON ADAMS 



as described in the case of the occurrences near the Croix 

 de Ste. Tanoque. Passing out of the forest and over the high 

 pastures of the Col de Massat, where a number of shepherds and 

 and cowherds in their picturesque dress were met, the party 

 descended to the renowned L'Etang de Lherz, a beautiful little 

 tarn, by the side of which the original lherzolite is seen. Here 

 a great mass of this rock, dark brown on the weathered surface, 

 penetrates the Jurassic strata, forming by far the most important 

 occurrence of lherzolite in this portion of the Pyrenees. After 

 lunch by the shore of the lake, the mist which had been gather- 

 ing during the morning settled down as rain, and the party were 

 obliged to hurry on to Massat, the "chef-lieu" of the canton, 

 one of the most secluded little places in the Pyrenees, and one 

 of the few places where the peculiar local costumes of the peas- 

 ants of the Pyrenees still survive. 



From Massat, early on the morning of August iith,the party 

 drove to Saint-Girons, stopping on the way to examine two or 

 three ophite occurrences and at the Pont de Kerkabanac to see 

 a contact of granite with schist. On the rocky bank of the little 

 stream at this point the granite is seen breaking through the 

 schist and including many little fragments of it. These are 

 often angular, but in some cases appear to have been softened 

 and somewhat drawn out. The "granitization " of these schists 

 was said to be particularly pronounced. The appearance of the 

 contact, however, was like that of any other ordinary granite 

 contact, where the igneous rock has broken through a shat- 

 tered mass of shale, caught up the fragments and baked them 

 intensely. 



At Saint-Girons the train was taken to Bagneres-de-Bigorre, 

 another locality in the Pyrenees renowned for its thermal springs 

 and hot baths, where during the afternoon the party visited 

 the museum of Mr. Charles Frossard, rich in collections illus- 

 trating the natural history of the Pyrenees, after which they 

 inspected the extensive marble cutting works and the baths. 



About two miles from Bagnieres-de-Bigorre is Pouzac, the 

 well-known nepheline syenite locality. This rock, together 



