Serpentines Near Philadelphia —Jonas. 297 
Distribution. — Serpentine has a wide distribution- 
through the British Isles and Europe, and has been describ- 
ed from several localities in Asia and Africa. The serpen- 
tines of England. Wales and Scotland have been traced to 
olivine rocks and are usually associated with masses of 
gabbro or dioryte. The serpentines of Europe, for the 
most part, occur in belts of igneous rocks and crystalline 
schists and gneisses, and are largely derived from perido- 
tytes, pyroxenytes or gabbros. Serpentinised marble is re- 
reported from the Passauer gneiss district of central Europe 
from the upper Reno valley of Italy and from the Knopia 
district of Finland, and serpentine is associated with cal- 
careous schists on Corsica and at Antioch, Asia. 
In America serpentine is found throughout the belt of 
crystalline formations which extends from Maine to Ala- 
bama and forms the floor of the Piedmont plateau. 
Maine. — *In Maine, serpentine has been reported by 
Mr. George P. Merrill at the northern end of Deer Isle in 
Penobscot bay. He describes it as a very dark green varie- 
ty mottled by diallage crystals. 
Vermont — There are many localities of serpentine in 
the state of Vermontt on the boundary between Dover and 
Newfane counties, at Windham ; in the hills of the north- 
western part of Chester extending to Ludlow and Caven- 
dish ; at Plymouth, Roxbury, Westfield and Troy. The 
serpentine is associated with steatite and occurs both in 
mica schists and gneisses. It is placed among the strati- 
fied rocks because it occurs as thick beds in foliated rocks 
and does not cut them. This could be accounted for on the 
supposition that the serpentine was an intrusive which had 
been folded along with the rock into which it was intruded. 
The steep slopes of Belvidere* mountain are composed of 
amphibolyte. In it the hornblende has been largely alter- 
ed to fibrous serpentine. 
Massachusetts. — In the Holyoke folio Emerson dis- 
cusses the serpentine which extends from Holyoke, Massa- 
chusetts, south into Connecticut. The Chester amphibolyte 
*G. P. Merrill, "Stones for Building and Decoration," p. 60. 
t Geology of Vermon 1861. vol. i, p. 544. 
J Science, vol. xxi, No. 533, Mar. 17, 1905 (review). "The Serpentine 
and Associated Minerals of Belvidere mountain, Vermont," by V. F. 
Marsters. 
