LIMESTONES. 365 



The Cipolin marbles of Italy are while, or nearly so, with 

 shadings or zones of green talc. The bardiglio is a gray 

 variety from Corsica. 



Compact limestone usually breaks out easily in*o thick 

 slabs, and are a convenient and durable stone for building 

 and all kinds of stone work. It is not possessed of much 

 beauty in the rough state. When polished it constitutes a 

 variety of marbles according to the color ; the shades are very 

 numerous, from white, cream and yellow shades, through 

 gray, dove-colored, slate blue or brown, to black. 



The Nero-antico marble of the Italians is an ancient deep 

 black marble ; the para gone is a modern one, of a fine black 

 color, from Bergamo ; and panno di morie is another black 

 marble with a few white fossil shells. 



The rosso-antico is deep blood-red, sprinkled with minute 

 white dots. The giallo anlico, or yellow antique marble, is 

 deep yellow with black or yellow rings. A beautiful mar- 

 ble from Sienna, brocatello di Siena, has a yellow color, with 

 large irregular spots and veins of bluish-red or purplish. 

 The mandelato of the Italians is a light red marble, with 

 yellowish-white spots ; it is found at Luggezzana. At 

 Verona, there is a red marble, inclining to yellow, and ano- 

 ther with large white spots in a reddish and greenish paste. 



The black marble used in the United States comes mostly 

 from Shoreham, Vu, and other places in that state near Lake 

 Champlain. 'We Bristol marble of England is a black mar- 

 ble containing a feWwhite shells, and the Kilkenny is another 

 similar. There are several quarries at Isle La Motte. It 

 is quarried also near Plattsburgh and Glenn's Falls, N. Y. 



The portor is a Genoese marble very highly esteemed. It 

 is deep black, with elegant veinings of yellow. The most 

 beautiful comes from Porto- Venese, and under Louis XIV a 

 great deal of it was worked up for the decoration of Versailles. 



Gray and dove-colored compact marbles are common 

 through New York and the states West. 



The bird's-eye marble of Western New York is a compact 

 limestone, with crystalline points scattered through it. 



Ruin marble is a yellowish marble, with brownish sha- 

 dings or lines arranged so as to represent castles, towers or 

 cities in ruins. These markings proceed from infiltrated 

 iron. It is an indurated calcareous marl. 



Oolitic marble has usually a grayish tint, and is speckled 

 with rounded dots, looking much like the roe of a fish 



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