36 Miscellaneous Notices of American 
masses oi pudding stone are found resting upon the sand 
stone, and rising nearly to the surface. The appearance of 
this rock is somewhat singular. It is composed almost 
entirely of rounded pebbles, from the size of ounce balls to 
that of grape and canister shot, adhering together like so ma- 
ny small rounded magnets, with little or no intervening fine 
sand to actasa cement. Yet it is pretty firm. I have seen 
lying on the beach masses of it as large as a half barrel, 
which were difficult to break. The pebbles composing 
this rock are principally carbonate of lime, some, however, 
are quartz, felspar, and gneiss. Petrifactions of various 
kinds, particularly of shells and roots are occasionally found 
in this rock. At Lewistown the banks of the river sudden- 
ly rise to one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular. They 
are composed entirely of compact limestone, the strata are 
nearly horizontal. They have more the appearance of art 
than of nature, and extend quite up to the falls, (a distance 
of eight miles,) so that the water when viewed from the 
edge of this bank, has more the appearance of falling inte 
a great pit or chasm in the rocks than any thing else. Was any 
proof wanting to convince us that the water once rolled over 
the abutment at Lewistown,and thatthe banks above that were 
then no higher than they are now above the falls, the situa- 
tion in which the gypsum is found, affords, I think, a deci- 
sive proof. It is found filling little cavities in the rocks, on 
the edge of this bank all the way from Lewistown to the 
falls, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above 
the present highwater mark. It has an earthy appearance, 
is very soft when first broken out, but hardens on exposure 
to the air. As no gypsum is found in this neighbourhood 
except on this bank, it must have been deposited there by 
the water. I have seen one specimen distinctly crystalized. 
These little cavities in the rocks are numerous, most of them 
are filled with rhomboidal crystals of carbonate of lime, and 
on these rhomboidal crystals are occasionally found and de- 
posited those almost cubic crystals of carbonat of lime, the 
cuboide of the Abby Hauy. From the falls to Buffalo 
there is nothing remarkable in the appearance of the coun- 
try. The banks of the river are low, and its bed is rock, 
probably limestone. It is to be seen in most places on the 
bank of the river, rising a little above the surface of the 
water. At Black rock, just below Lake Erie, the banks 
