138 



CARBONIFEROUS L I M E S T O N E S 



The first bluffs which come up to the Missouri below Waverley are on the right 

 bank, a short distance above the town of Miami, and four to five miles above the 

 mouth of the Wyaconda. They are composed, at their base, of ledges of limestone, 

 twenty feet thick, with nests of chert, the joints of the layers interlocking, like 

 the sutures of the cranium. (Section 13, M.) Some of the layers are filled with 

 disjointed columns of encrinites, many of which are of an elliptical form, and pro- 

 bably belong to a species of Platycrinus. Pieces of iron ore, of good quality, were 

 observed at this locality, strewn about the shore ; these may originate in a con- 

 cealed bed of some value. 



At Glasgow, on the left bank of the river, the base of the bluff consists of argil- 

 laceous shales, with Septaria, and schistose sandstone ; a thin seam of coal appears 

 about twenty feet above the water-level. (Section 12, M.) Over these, at an eleva- 

 tion of about thirty feet, cherty limestone ]:>rojects from the bank, in the form of a 

 rough wall. By a southerly dip of the strata, this cherty, rugged limestone is 

 brought within a few feet of the water, at Arrow Rock, presenting a mural face of 

 thirty to forty feet. (Section 11, M.) Near the base of the exposure, a layer of 

 limestone contains numerous remains of encrinites, the whiteness of which con- 

 trasts well with the reddish flesh-colour of the matrix in which they are embedded. 

 The same bed contains many individuals of the large variety of Spirifer striatus, 

 along with Pi^ochictus punctatus. 



Cliffs of the same limestone can be traced below the mouth of Riviere la 

 Mine, and beyond the town of Booneville, forming a series of wave-like, anticlinal 

 axes, of which eight were counted in the distance of one mile. A succession of 

 similar undulating stratifications can be observed at an elevation of from fifty to 

 one hundred feet below Rockport, where they form vertical ledges, from sixty to 

 seventy feet in height. (Section No. 10, M.) 



Eight miles below Rockport occurs a bed of light, flesh-coloured, crystalline lime- 

 stone, charged with Orthis Michelini, Synbathocrinus, and a fossil shell belonging to 

 the genus Chonetes, probably undescribed. 



It is between this locality and the mouth of the Osage, on both sides of the Mis- 

 souri River, that those immense beds of coal are found, which attain a thickness of 

 twenty, perhaps forty feet. This Osage coal* is remarkable, not alone for its extra- 



* An analysis of Osage coal by Johnston, resulted thus : — 



A trial for sulphur gave 0-483 of that material. 



An analysis by the chromate of lead and the chlorate of potash proved the combustible matter to be 

 composed of 



Moisture, expelled at 230°, 

 Other volatile matter, 

 Fixed carbon, . 

 Earthy matter (ashes), 



1-67 

 41-83 

 51-16 



5-34 



Atoms. 



Carbon, 

 Hydrogen , 

 Oxygen, 



81-855 = 13-642 

 6-168= 6-168 

 11-977= 1-497 



