36 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



rate globular masses are frequently found, either more or less reddened 

 by oxide of iron, or blackened with carbonaceous matter ; often con- 

 centrically laminated, and of various sizes, sometimes of two feet dia- 

 meter. The whole mass is often so ferruginous, that, by long exposure 

 to the atmosphere, it will, in the crevices, be coloured red, as in the 

 quarry near Sabschiitz, north of Leobschiitz. Sometimes also the red 

 oxide of iron is the material of all the foreign bodies contained in the 

 mass, particularly of Calamites. Coal also, generally anthracitic, is 

 found in isolated masses in the quariy of the Spitalmiihle, near 

 Berndau. A profusion of globular masses coloured black by carbo- 

 naceous matter often produces a change into black or grauwacke-coal- 

 slate ; very few thick layers of which are separable, particularly near 

 the surface. This slate consists of equal parts, by weight, of carbon, 

 quartz, and clay, and is nearly always destitute of mica-flakes. A pre- 

 ponderance of quartz gives this slate greater hardness, so that it may 

 be used for roofing-slate, as in a quarry half a league behind Gratz, 

 near Troppau. The quarries in which this slate is worked being 

 situated within the grauwacke district, it may be looked upon as pri- 

 mary clay-slate, unless it here and there exhibits Calamites of a 

 younger age. 



These coally or bituminous clay-slates, often containing some lime, 

 have already occasioned experiments in search of coal, as very lately 

 near Tost and in different places near Unter-Paulsdorf in the Leob- 

 schiitz district. Naturally no coal of workable quality was found, and 

 these experiments only afforded a nearer insight as to the nature of 

 the beds at a greater depth, which at Paulsdorf were very calcareous. 

 Peculiar shell-shaped concretions and also several testacea were brought 

 to hght, of which, as they had already again closed the pit, I preserved 

 unfortunately only one specimen, a sufficiently distinct fragment, 

 however, to be recognised as Lituites convolvens, Schlot., the occur- 

 rence of which is limited to the first transition period. At Tost, 

 indeed, there was also at the place of experiment a great quantity of 

 slates present, mostly slaty grauwacke, which, however, were destitute 

 of nearly all trace of vegetable remains. 



Great aggregations of conglomerate, oh so grand a scale as they 

 occur for example on the banks of the Bober at Landeshut, in Lower 

 Silesia, are on the whole seldom met with ; I saw such on the valley- 

 sides of the grauwacke rocks which are exposed in the village Dirschel. 

 Besides the above-mentioned Lituite, I did not succeed in finding, in 

 the district referred to, any other animal organic remains. 



On the Fossil Flora of the Transition Rocks of Silesia. 



As to the occurrence of plants in the localities above referred to, 

 they are always sparingly to be met wit|i, and in the conglomerate 

 at Dirschel at one spot only. They are scarcely ever found in the 

 grauwacke that lies in thick beds, but in the laminated argillaceous 

 beds that generally mark the divisions between the thick strata. They 

 occur in extensive layers, especially the more delicate remains, in grey, 

 faintly reddish-coloured clay, and although not in great variety, yet 



