W. M. Fontaine— Vespertine Strata of Virginia. 121 



No. 1 is a conglomerate of remarkable coarseness, and con- 

 tains only subordinate bands of coarse white sandstone. Most 

 of the pebbles are from a half an inch to an inch in size, but 

 many are two inches in diameter, and flat The quartzose mat- 

 ter is all pure white, and plainly derived from the Potsdam and 

 mi. lei h Jim quartzites, as may be easily seen from the nature of 

 the larger pebbles. The smaller pebbles are rounded. The 

 great coarseness, pure siliceous character, and white color of 

 this stratum, (.-on trust in the most striking manner with the 

 underlying Chemung beds, and point to a radical change in the 

 conditions of deposition. 



No. 2 is a highly siliceous, white sandstone, with subordinate 

 bands of smaller pebbles. A gradual change from a highly 

 siliceous character to a more argillaceous one, may be traced as 

 we ascend in the series. No. 4 is marked with streaks and 

 spots of red, and begins to show some argillaceous matter, es- 

 pecially toward the top, while in No. 5 a large amount of this 

 material is present. This latter is heavy bedded toward the 

 bottom, and more flaggy toward the top. 



Middle member of the Vespertine. 



1. Argillaceous gray sandstones, 200 feet. 



2. Coal. Upper bed, thickness not exposed. 



3. Massive and flaggy gray sandstones, interstratified, 120 feet. 



4. Bluish, arg _-. 350 feet. 



Total for the middle member, 670 feet. 

 The lower coal-bed was not seen in this section. No. 3 is 

 rather more massive and siliceous here than in Price's Moun- 

 tain. In No 4, occasional beds 10 to 15 feet thick occur, more 

 massive and siliceous than the great body of the mass. Next 

 above No. 4 come the red beds of the upper member. 



The coals of Brush Mountain lie in two beds, identical with 

 those of Price's Mountain, but, as stated before, the amount of 

 slate partings is greatei - is tn lis rl m< to which they 

 have been subjected. Still the upper bed here is also worked 

 to a considerable extent. The lower bed has a sandstone floor 

 and roof. It is about three feet thick, with a slate parting in 

 the middle, from five to ten inches thick. This bed was 

 formerly worked on a small scale, but is now entirely neglected. 

 The upper bed is separated from this by from thirty-five to 

 forty feet of gray flags. About half way between the two, at 

 some of the openings, a small seam twelve inches thick, is 

 reported to exist The following is the section of the upper 

 bed: 

 No. 1. Bottom slate. No. 4. Coal, 6 inches. 



" 2. Coal, 8 inches. " 5- Slate, 1 inch. 



" 3. Slate, 3 inches. " 6. Coal, 6 inches. 



Am. Jour. Sol— Third Series, Vol. XIII, No. 74.— Feb., 1877. 



