Organic Remains. 



171 



which the rocks in place' contain. And it would be easy to enumer- 

 ate a very extensive list, in this formation, in Massachusetts. But 

 this could be of no use : and I shall only mention the few which are 

 of special interest. 



The most important of these is native gold, which exists in dilu- 

 vium in Somerset Vt. The soil from which I saw it washed, was 

 taken only about a foot below the surface, and consisted of loam, or 

 of sand and clay, containing vegetable matter. Deeper in the ground 

 the materials are coarse. But to what depth the gold extends, has not 

 been ascertained. As I have given an extended description of the 

 features of this gold region in the first part of the report, and shall 

 hereafter more particularly describe its mode of occurrence in the 

 talcose slate, from which it has been washed, I need not dwell upon 

 the subject here. 



A few years since a mass of native copper was found in the di- 

 luvium of Whately, weighing 17 ounces avoirdupois. Its shape was 

 irregular, and it was partially coated with the green carbonate of 

 copper. There can be little doubt but this proceeded from the new 

 red sandstone or the greenstone ; although in Massachusetts, this 

 mineral has not been found in either of these rocks. 



Dr. Samuel L. Dana informs me, that recently a small mass of 

 lamellar sulphate of baryta, containing some specks of galena, and 

 with some quartz and feldspar attached to it, was discovered in dilu- 

 vial gravel in Waltham. This fact is interesting, because, with this 

 exception, no baryta has been discovered in that vicinity. Near the 

 spot, however, rolled masses of quartz have been dug up, containing 

 galena. These facts certainly indicate a vein of these minerals in 

 the vicinity; and I venture to predict, that if ever it is brought to 

 light, it will be found north of the spot where the diluvial fragments 

 occur. 



Organic Remains. 



I know of no instance in which organic remains of any interest 

 have been found in our diluvium, with the exception, perhaps, of sev- 

 eral species of recent shells in two or three places. The Messrs. 

 Danas state, that in Cambridge, a common species of Mya was found, 

 forming a stratum three or four inches thick, in the side of a hill ; 

 also strata of Mya, Mytilus, and Ostrea, several inches thick,' and 

 from five to ten feet below the surface, at Lechmere Point ; and frag- 

 ments of Mya, 107 feet below the surface, at Jamaica Plains, in Rox~ 



