40 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



that petroleum was derived from animal matter — at least in this in- 

 stance — can hardly be disputed, and for the reason given in a 

 former paper published by the Hamilton Association, I doubt if 

 mineral oil owes its existence to vegetable matter at all. I believe 

 it to be a production of the animal kingdom. Zinc Blende (Galena) 

 and Celastine were obtainable also in this quarry. I got a few 

 fossils. An Avicula, probably N. Specis, occurred in the lowest 

 bed of all. I have not been there for many years, and I am not 

 aware whether it has been re-opened since. 



In the quarries at the head of the Jolley Cut some fine cabinet 

 specimens of White Baryta, Selinite and Earthy Gypsum are obtain- 

 able not unfrequently in the thick Hmestone band below the Niagara 

 Shales, which is known to the quarry-men by the singular name of 

 " the nigger-head bed." You may notice in it occasionally empty 

 pockets lined with what is commonly called Dog's-tooth Spar. The 

 mineral gypsum has a great affinity for moisture, rain water, etc., and 

 if it succeeds in penetrating to where its relative is concealed, it takes 

 it off altogether, and merely leaves the empty pocket — the void or 

 hollow — which we are asked to explain. In numerous instances the 

 student of Mineralogy may notice in our local Niagara rocks that 

 Selenite undoubtedly was deposited at a period subsequent to the 

 formation of the Dog's-tooth Spar. In many instances you may 

 notice the transparent mineral resting on the crystals. 



The travelled boulders brought from the north in the great 

 Ice Age, which we remark lying on the surface of the fields in every 

 direction, do not come under the head of local rocks, yet specimens 

 of much interest are frequently embedded in them. A vein in a 

 greenstone, close to the road fence near the Lime Ridge, afforded 

 me a remarkable fine cabinet specimen of Feldspar (Orthoclase). 

 This mineral, one of the constitutents of granite, is used extensively 

 for the manufacture of porcelain or china ware, and may prove of 

 some commercial value if only the original place it came from could 

 be discovered. Another boulder near the corporation drain afforded 

 me Silver Mica and Black Biotite, while another presented some 

 inferior Crystals of Garnet. 



A fragment of a Metamorphic Rock (a Quartz and Jasper 

 Conglomerate), was presented to me some time ago. It was said to 

 be taken from a weathered, rounded boulder near Waterdown. 



