94 W. M. Fontaine— Geology of the Blue Ridge. 
dotic granite, and a beautiful dark-gray syenite. The latter two 
are hard and permanent. In this space occur two bands of slaty 
rocks, one on the west side of the summit, and the other on 
the east side. That on the west side is one mile below the 
top, is 200 yards wide and contains gray and reddish slates, 
with associated greenstone-slate, sometimes amygdaloidal. Dip, 
moderate, southeast. The other band is half a mile below the 
summit on the east side. It presents repeated alternatious of 
red and gray slates, white sandstones, and conglomerates, with 
a high dip, to the southeast, and a width of half a mile. 
Entire distance four miles. Down the east slope we find gray 
granitic rocks, with some bands of argillaceous slate, and 
toward the east have two or three dykes of greenstone (pinite 
porphyry ?). Extent four miles. III. From the last point, on 
the junction of the north and south forks of Tye River, the 
country up to two miles beyond Lovingston is mainly gneissi¢, 
with frequent beds of true granite near Lovingston. Dip, high, 
southeast. Hxtent fourteen miles. IV. Greenish chloritic 
granite ; gneiss; and bluish mica slate. Dip, vertical. Inter 
val occupied, three miles. This last is the position of Buffalo 
Ridge. V. Findlay’s Mountain, one mile wide, composed of 
coarse quartzite. Dip vertical. After this the dip changes to 
northwest, and then to southeast, which it retains for a long 
distance as we pass east. 
It will be noticed that in this section the quartzites conte 
ing the Ragged Mountains in the central portions of the valley 
are not found. In No. III the granite mentioned forms the 
most western ledges of the eruptive rocks to be described near 
Lynchburg. The chloritic granite is the representative, most 
probably, of the epidosites of the northeast. If so, this rock, 
which is protogine, is a metamorphic product from argillaceous 
slates. In the Catoctin Mountains, to the northeast of Lynch: 
burg, various useful minerals occur; among which, copper ores, 
galena and magnetic iron may be mentioned. ese may, — 
however, be of Triassic age, as great masses of Triassic trap — 
occur in them near these deposits. oo 
Coming now to the vicinity of Lynchburg, and commencing — 
with the examination of Buffalo Ridge, three miles southeast — 
of the town, we find massive mica slates and schists compa 
some quartzites, mica and talcose slates, containing sepa 
of magnetic and specular iron. Here occurs the curious roe 
called “catawbarite,” by Lieber. This is an intimate mixture 
