Crosby.] ; 374 [January 21, 
boundary of Bellingham as a well-marked hydromica schist, alter- 
nating repeatedly with beds of sandstone and conglomerate, which 
are also more or less micaceous, the sandstone and smaller grained 
conglomerate being on this account often with difficulty recognized 
assuch. Farther east the formation appears to undergo a gradual 
change toward argillite, becoming at once less micaceous and 
less conglomerate ; and the highest beds observed, in the western 
edge of Franklin, are avery good argillite, though still slightly 
micaceous. 
The relations of the conglomerate to the arenaceous and mica- 
ceous strata are usually very intimate, the conglomerate, sandstone 
and schist being interstratified in thin beds, and the conglomerate 
often changing to finer material along the strike, as is so often seen 
in the fragmental rocks of later ages; so that Hitchcock has well 
described this formation as ‘‘a distinct mica slate, and ano less 
distinct conglomerate; while in his general paper, already cited, 
on altered conglomerates, figure 3, illustrating the relations of the 
conglomerate and talcose (hydromica) schist in Wallingford, Vt., 
would answer equally well as a representation of the relations of 
these rocks in Bellingham. Distorted pebbles are not to be observed 
in all parts of the Bellingham conglomerate, but, on the contrary, 
the aspect of the rock, at least as far as the pebbles are concerned, 
is frequently that of a normal pudding-stone. The pebbles are 
mostly small, rarely exceeding three inches in diameter. 
As already stated, the best exposure of the conglomerate with — 
deformed pebbles is on the New York and New England Railroad, 
near Mill River. The dip at this point, is E. N. E. 20°-30°; and 
there is much hydromica schist and micaceous sandstone interstrat- 
ified with the conglomerate. 
The deformation of the pebbles in the conglomerate beds is an 
undeniable fact; and I judge that no one who has seen the rock 
in situ will hesitate to admit it. As a rule, in the altered conglom- 
erates of New England the pebbles are flattened, the tendency 
being to form thin lenticular layers, which interlace and give rise to 
a distinctly schistose structure. In Bellingham, however, it is quite 
evident that the metamorphism has been mainly a drawing out or 
stretching, rather than a flattening process; it is as if the pebbles 
had experienced an endwise pull, instead of compression by a force 
exerted in one direction only. The typical form of the distorted 
pebble is not a lenticular layer, but a spindle-shaped rod, which is 
