W. M. Fontaine—Primordial Strata of Virginia. 363 
rocks of No. I, which are seen on the side of the canal lying 
on the syenitic mass, with a northwest dip. 
he lowest stratum next the syenite is a brownish, decompos- 
ing slate, evidently much altered by the syenite. Next is a 
grayish and reddish sandstone; then a slate similar to the 
former ; then a repetition of the sandstone; again a slate, and, 
at the termination of the gap, heavy beds of massive white 
sandstone, the typical rock of this series. The average dip of 
the latter is, in the cliffs at the entrance of the pass, 55° north- 
west. 
If we now return to the east, by the road leading over the 
mountain, we are accompanied for a long distance by these 
upper sandstones, and we then pass in succession over the 
underlying strata, which extend with a gentle dip almost to the 
2: 7 
summit of the mountain 
-) 
posing, thinly laminated, and contorted shale, 10 feet. (4.) 
Conglomerate, like the upper portion of (2), 20 feet. ©) somes 
t. .) Crum- 
Massively bedded, coarse white quartzite (apparently Rogers’s 
there is no danger of overlooking reduplications. 
The dip of (8) is confused by contortion; that of (4) is 70°. 
From this point the inclination gradually declines, until in (8 
It is about 55°. Proceeding west across the strike, we next 
encounter a series (9) of thinly laminated shales, with some 
beds of red and gray sandstones. This series is much more 
disturbed than the preceding, and, owing to its having been 
long subjected to the action of the river, in its efforts to cut 
through the massive barrier interposed by (8), it presents 
* This Journal, January and February, 1875, 
Am. Jour. Sor.—TuirD — Vor. IX, No. 53.—May, 1875, 
