1879.) Texas in its Geognostic and Agricultural Aspect. 383 
From the mouth of the Little Wichita into the Red river down 
to the Colorado river, where the Pecan bayou empties into the 
same, there lies, towards the west, a region about one hundred 
miles wide, that belongs to a much older mountain formation, the 
so-called coal or transition mountain. In this is found in abund- 
ance the copper-schist or the Permian system, as also the Silurian. 
Shumard looked already upon this. region as belonging to the 
coal-formation; and the organic remains which exist in the rocks 
speak most plainly ; such are trilobites, fossil fishes of the families 
of Ganoids and sharks, and the imprints of the ferns with Equi- 
setaceous and other plants. I have found also in this formation 
various Mollusca, chiefly Brachiopoda and Lamellibranchiata, 
wholly petrified in the iron-ore, called sphzrosiderite. We 
find now and then, on the surface of this coal-formation, copper- 
ore, consisting mainly of malachite, which originally penetrated 
in veins through sandstone; it is often several inches thick. 
There are also found immense masses of iron-ore in very many 
different conditions, lying around loose on the slopes, in ravines, 
and everywhere; and especially those that appear most numer- 
ous, are the hematite and ironspar or spherosiderite; and 
which, it seems, have been taken by some persons for copper; 
yet I have no doubt but that considerable copper and other 
ore deposits may still lie hidden in some deeper stratum. The 
different iron-ores tontain, according to my analysis, twenty 
to seventy per cent. pure iron, and among them many spars, a 
little zinc, and traces of cadmium. If we compare these ores with 
those of other countries, it is apparent that they are among the 
best, and most easily reduced; they are the same ores out of 
which nearly nine-tenths of all the iron in England is produced. 
From these geological and paleontological facts, we are per- — 
mitted with all certainty to conclude that, although hitherto no ` 
positive data have existed, there must be throughout this whole 
division large, extensive, and genuine coal-beds. In the geologi- 
cal State museum at Austin can be seen large pieces of genuine 
stone-coal, but without any precise information as to the place of 
discovery. 
Bismuth and antimony, it is claimed, have already also been 
found. Some time ago the newspapers gave information that a 
very rich silver mine had been discovered in Montague county ; 
but it may well be doubted whether this news is correct, and it may 
