222 =~ «S*.~ L. Campbell— Geology of the Blue Ridge. 
My assistant, Mr. Harry D. Campbell, and myself were re- 
quested, a few months ago, to make a professional examination 
of a belt of slate lying along the southeast base of the Blue 
Ridge in the western corner of Amherst county. In this belt 
the “Snowdon Slate Quarries” have been opened, and on tra- 
cing its strike toward the southwest it was found to cross the 
James River a little beyond the limit of the map and section 
referred to above. 
ile examining the geological relations of the belt of slate, 
my assistant discovered that one of the beds of sandstone un- 
derlying the slate, abounded, at some points, in Scolithus borings. 
Examinations extended lower down the River on the Amherst 
side disclosed several alternations of sandstones, conglomerates 
and slates, all dipping toward the southeast, but with decreas- 
ing steepness until, as they approach the old ferry where the 
Richmond & Alleghany Railway crosses the river, they become 
approximately horizontal. Then changing their dip toward 
the northwest with increasing steepness, a similar succession of 
beds of sandstones and slates was found, with the lowest rest- 
ing upon Archean rocks, such as constitute the core of the 
main ridge. : 
Thus we found what is manifestly a somewhat shallow syn- 
cline, about three miles wide, running parallel with the general 
range of mountains, and occupied by successive beds of sand- 
stones, conglomerates and slates, bearing a decided resemblance 
to the lower members of the Cambrian beds, on the N.W. side 
of the main mountain, though very considerably modified by 
metamorphism ; so much so that I, as well as others formerly 
regarded this syncline as of Huronian age, and I pointed it out 
as such to Prof. C. H. Hitchcock some two or three years ag 
as we passed it on the Richmond & Alleghany train; but the 
subsequent discovery of a bed of sandstone im situ, contain- 
ing characteristic Scolithus borings, settles the question that the 
beds in question are of Cambrian age.’ 
In confirmation of our conclusion, Mr. H. D. Campbell bas 
traced the Scolithus bed, with its accompanying conglomerate 
for at least five miles on each side of the river For some dis 
tance from the margin of the river, on the Amherst side, the 
higher members of the series appear to have been removed by 
denuding agencies ; but on the SW. or Belford side, he found 
the “ Baleony Rock”—the lowest bed of quartzite—well ex- 
osed ; then, in the next higher sandstone bed, he found abun- 
dant traces of Scolithus, corresponding in position and range 
with what had been found on the other side. Some of the 
higher peaks a little remote from the river, he found capped 
with the main Scolithus bed, the upper or typical Potsdam 
sandstone of this region. We may conclude therefore, that 
