Geology, &fc. of the Connecticut^ 73 



dletown and Durham ; 6. A small patch in East-Haven ; 

 7. A narrow range in Southington ; 8. The same in West- 

 field and South-Hampton. The latter, in the northern 

 part, is penetrated by the drift to the South-Harnpton lead- 

 mine ; but scarcely appears at the surface. In Westfield, 

 however, it is wider. 



It would seem from the preceding description that all the 

 rocks essential to Werner's Independent Coal Formation 

 are to be found along the Connecticut, viz a friable mica- 

 ceous sandstone, shale and pudding-stone, (Cleaveland, 

 vol. 2, p. 508,) and also the greenstone and amygdaloid 

 Professor Jameson has added Still, however, there are 

 some other circumstances which may leave the geologist in 

 doubt whether the real independent coal formation occurs 

 along this river. 



Some may suppose the rocks above described to be grey 

 wacke and grey wacke slate ; and if the definition of grey 

 wacke be so broad as to include those pudding-stones whose 

 cement is merely a comminuted portion of the imbedded f-ag- 

 ments, it will indeed include not only the pudding-stone of 

 the coal formation above described, but, for aught 1 can see, 

 even the old red sandstone; and, indeed, what fragmented 

 rock will it not include.^* And besides, many of the argilla- 

 ceous sandstone slates described above, cannot,without diffi- 

 culty be distinguished from certain varieties ofgrdy wacke slate 

 in hand specimens. But the rock usually called grey wacke 

 in Europe has never yet, I believe, been found lying above 

 the old red sandstone, as does the coal formation along this 

 river. It is usually traversed, says Jameson, by quartz in 

 the form of veins, which is rarely, if ever, the case in our 

 rock. It has never been found alternating with beds of any 

 sort of coal, except the coal blende; but our rock con- 

 tains many beds and veins of that which is highly bitumin- 

 ous. Again, the icthyolites and other organic relics that 

 are found at Sunderland have almost all tlie rocks of the 

 ooal formation lying above them, as may be seen by the 

 sketch of Mount Toby, that will be given when we come 



*Some judicious remarks on this subject are contained in the North- 

 American Review, No. 29, p. 235. There we fiod the following sentence 

 concerning the Roxbur)' and Dorchester plumb-pudding-stone, which some- 

 what resembles a certain variety described above. "This rock forms one 

 vast bed, which we have examined in various parts and feel no hesitation in. 

 saying that it is not the grev wacke of Eurci)'. \a geologists/ ' 



Vol. VI.— No. l', 10 



