and breccia saxosa, lies over this alpine chain o f rocks in the Svackuf-
jall, Elgshognan, Salfjall, Mossevola, &c. which lie partly in Sweden
and partly in Norway. Farther down, in the parish o f Sam, ii found
alpine sandstone. Over this, in the parish, o f Elfvedal, within the division
of eastern Dalelf, there is an extensive tract of transition porphyry,
porphyry breccia, and transition greenstone, which continues
over a part o f the parishes of Mora and Orssa. Round western Dalelf,
in the parish of Lima, are found alpine sandstone, clay slate, trap,
and trap porphyry, all belonging to the transition rocks.
In the parishes of Rattvik, Ore, Orssa, Mora, and Sophia Magdalena,,
there occur beds of transition rocks, consisting o f sandstone,
limestone, clay slate, and marl slate, interspersed with petrifactions,
and o f posterior formation to the preceding rocks, which they in part
coyer. Respecting this tract the following observations may be made.
1. The aspect o f the surface is usually uneven, some few plains excepted,
as for example, the sandy plain between Rattvik and Boda
chapel; that between Dalby and Furndal, in the parish o f Ore; the
plain of Skatunge and the north part of Solleron. The beds o f limestone
at Vika and Vomhus, in the parish o f Mora, are likewise disposed
into plains. Finally the surface is broken into alternate heights
and valleys, the heds of which either constitute oblong or level ridges,
as those about Boda and Osmundsberg; or they fill up hollows and
precipices consisting o f older rocks, the flanks of which, to a greater
or smaller extent, consist o f these beds. This is the case at Digerberg,
in Orssa by Skatunge chapel, and at a height between Vikarby and
the church of Rattvik, &c.
The heights round the lakes o f Siljan and Orssa are very low: at
Vomhus, Vika, Omon, near Solleron, and at the foot o f Digerberg,
they lie almost on a level with the surface o f the water, and probably
constitute the bottom o f the lake Orssa. On the other hand, at Gle-
karna in Rattvik, they occur, according to Cronstedt,* nearly 200 fa-
*;Mmeral historia biver en del af Westmonland och Dalame, J 752, MS. in the Archives
of the College of Mines.
thorns above the surface o f the lake Siljan, and at Osmundsberg they
are still higher.
The boundaries and circumferences o f the different beds can hardly
be ascertained with accuracy, on account of the forests and alluvial
earth with which they are covered. That part of the lake Siljan which
is called Rattvik is surrounded with beds of limestone, which lie over
rocks of granite and mica slate, from Osback five-eighths o f a Swedish
mile south from Rattvik church, to Icke-on in the same parish. From
Rattvik these beds are continued in a north-easterly direction to Boda
chapel, and they may be seen still farther north in the parish of Ore.
They are found likewise in Rattvik near Beackby, Alsorby, Kyrkan,
Vikarby, Oiga, Ostbjorka, and the village of Gliskarna. A good many
other localities are here given by Hisinger, but as they are o f small
value to the English reader, and throw but little light on the structure
of the country, I do not consider it as necessary to transcribe them.
Beds o f limestone are found likewise in the parish o f Mora, by
Vomelf and Vomhus chapel, and near the village of Vika and Selbacks.
The beds found at Vika are a continuation o f those at Solleron.
Solleron parish and that o f Sophia Magdalena consist for the most
part of a flat round height o f red granite (gneiss), which towards the
north and north-west sinks into a level plain. Over the lower side o f
this height passes transversely a bed of limestone, and a little to the
north o f it at Utanmyra sandstone occurs.
The curvilinear extent of this bed from Rattvik near Boda, Ore,
Skaturgby, and Orssa to Vattnas in Mora,-amounts to about 7 Swedish,
or 464. English miles. Its breadth may be estimated at about a mile
<64 English miles).; but this breadth varies considerably in different
places.
2. Sandstone and limestone, which sometimes contains posterior
beds of clay slate and marl slate, intermixed and composed of the substances
that have been named in the preceding table o f the transition
rocks.
The sandstone in this tract, as is the case with the same rock in
other parts of the kingdom, constitutes always the lowest bed. Beds
2 e 2