174 On the Geology and Mineralogy of Schoharie, N. Y. 
reous Spar, covered by water lime, and from three, to seven inches 
thick. When broken, the geodes are often empty, shewing the par- 
tial or total decomposition of the crystals; when filled with crystals, 
it is difficult to preserve them ; as the force necessary to break the 
rock frequently separates them from the gangue. Below this, is a 
layer of Strontianite and Heavy Spar of a light blue color. It oc- 
curs massive, and lamellar. Another variety is massive, in thin lam- 
inz, and often disintegrating. Another variety isa coating deposited 
on the water-lime and silicious limestone, about half an inch thick, 
and filled with small interstices giving it a spongy appearance. It is 
soft when removed from the quarry, but soon acquires hardness by 
exposure. In this locality are also, columnar forms, not very dissim- 
ilar to some varieties of favosite, found in the water-lime and blue 
limerock. This locality underlies the water-lime, and is based on 
the silicious limerock and greywacke. ‘The water-lime and the va- 
rious strata directly above and below in the different localities, con- 
tain no organic remains except favosite. ‘Thus far, the order of the 
strata alluded to in p. 263 is not materially inapplicable ; and they con- 
tain the same petrifactions, (except the lilly, and stag-horn encrinite.) 
The water-lime is not seen again until we arrive at the bottom of 
Ball’s cave, four miles N. E. of the Court house. When this cave 
was discovered, it contained numerous stalactites and stalagmites, 
many of which were of the purest white alabaster, also fibrous and 
columnar Arragonite, Satin spar, and a few specimens of Pisolite oc- 
curring in oval concretions, about the size of a hazle nut, with dis- 
tinct concentric layers, found in cavities in alabaster. The chemical 
character of the cave minerals has not, in all instances, been satisfacto- 
rily ascertamed. ‘The inclination of the water-lime on the west side 
of the river (the whole mountain range being the same,) 1s similar to 
that on the East; but its edges are less exposed, being covered with 
the detritus of the superincumbent rocks for about three miles. ‘The 
massive Strontianite, (called the marble quarry) No.7, is at the base 
of a high ledge of rocks, and is covered with water-lime about five feet 
thick, which reposes on a blue limerock, destitute of organic re- 
mains. Its approach is difficult and dangerous. The ascent of the 
acclivity from the valley of three hundred {feet is effected only by 
the aid of shrubs and depending limbs, while the descent from above, 
of one hundred feet, is no less dangerous. In tracing the direction 
of the water-lime which passes over the valley of Cobleskill Creek 
to No. 8in the town of Carlisle, about seven miles, the strata ap- 
