112 THE DEVONIAN AND CARBONIFEROUS. [bull. 80. 



invariably nearer right than those who neglected them, strengthens 

 the belief that the fossils, even in this case, were the most valuable 

 means of correlation. 



William M. Fontaine, 1 in 1877, published some notes on the Vesper 

 tine of the Virginias. The area occupied by the Vespertine in the two 

 Virginias is limited by the main Alleghany in the northern and middle 

 portions, and by Peter's and East River Mountains in the southern 

 portion. The Vespertine rocks compose the middle portion of the main 

 Alleghany from the Potomac to Pocahontas County. The author gives 

 an account of the structure of the country and the geographical distri- 

 bution of the Vespertine strata, as well as that of the underlying rocks, 

 showing great distortion of the rocks and numerous faults. Two of the 

 detached belts of Vespertine east of the limit mentioned are spoken of 

 in detail, the first occurring on the east flank of the Alleghany Moun- 

 tains, near White Sulphur Springs, containing coal strata and plant im- 

 pressions, and showing the strata lying immediately above the Chemung, 

 with the junction of this last with the lower portion of the Vespertine; 

 the second belt more important and extended, about thirty miles east 

 of the last, commencing in the northern part of Virginia, in Berkeley 

 County, and extending south through the State. In the northern and 

 middle portions the coal- bearing member of the Vespertine lies under 

 the inverted massive sandstones of the lower member, and is found on 

 the west side of the mountain, while in the southern part of the State, 

 where the Vespertine strata are not inverted, the coal-bearing member 

 lies on the southeastern face of the mountain. As all the strata, in- 

 cluding the coals, thicken to the eastward, the Vespertine coal field must 

 have extended much further in that direction than any remnant now to 

 be seen, the belt of country over which well defined coal beds were 

 formed being more than 300 miles long and 50 wide. 



The author considers the most natural upper boundary of the Vesper- 

 tine in the Virginias to be the base of the " Lewisburg limestone" (p. 43), 

 which he correlates with the St. Louis and Chester groups (p. 44). 



The Vespertine strata on Greenbrier Kiver are described, the red 

 upper member attaining a thickness of 250 feet, but thinning out to the 

 north ; the middle member, 290 feet thick, having about 70 feet at the 

 top of bluish gray sandstone overlying 40 feet of thinly bedded gray 

 flags, with fully 50 thin strings of carbonaceous matter distributed 

 through them, but with a considerable coal bed a little farther north. 

 Above this carbonaceous portion are 120 feet of firm gray and brownish 

 sandstones, and then 40 feet of very flaggy, gray, soft sandstones and 

 shales, with some layers of fissile black shale containing indistinct 

 vegetable impressions, mostly leaves of Lepidodendra. At the base are 

 20 feet of dark gray, compact, fine-grained sandstone. 



At Lewis tunnel the base of the Vespertine shows a rock not brought 

 up at Greenbrier River; a white, pebbly, highly siliceous sandstone, 60 



1 Fontaine, William M. Notes on the Vespertine strata of Virginia and West Virginia. Am. Jour. 

 Sci., 3d ser., 1877, vol. 13, pp. 37-48, 115-123. 



