— below all these comes the common primitive limestone o f the country.
Such is Hisinger’s description of this hill. There can be no
doubt that it belongs to the floetz formations, even from the preceding
description, imperfect as it is. I shall omit Hisinger’s descriptions of
Digerberg, Skatunge, and Styggforss, because they are very long, and
do not seem calculated to throw much light on the geognosy o f the
province.
4. The sandstone is composed o f fine siliceous matter mixed with
oxide of iron and clay, and often contains some lime. The varieties of
it are as follows :
Light grey fine grained sandstone, varying in colour from white to
dark grey, and differing in hardness. Found at Kallmora, Styggforss,
Solleron.
Light grey sandstone with streaks of red iron shot clay. Kallmora.
Pale red fine grained sandstone, lighter and darker coloured. Kallmora,
Galleros.
Pale red fine grained sandstone, with round white spots. Styggforss,
Karfsos.
The limestone exhibits the following varieties.
Compact limestone, sometimes grey, sometimes reddish brown, in
distinct beds ; the former with green spots, the latter with green and
yellow veins.
Limestone with a splintery fracture, translucent, reddish, yellow,
and white, with cavities filled with calcareous spar, stalactites and petroleum.
A t Dalby lime quarry.
Grey and reddish limestone mixed with sand. The hill near Rattvik’s
church.
Red and white lumachella with small white anomiæ and entrochi, in
reddish brown limestone. At Karfsos.
Calcareous spar. At Gliskama, Forndal, &c.
Grey and red marl slate. A t Styggforss.
The petrifactions found in this limestone are orthoceratites, entomo-
lithus paradoxus, ammonites, anomia pecten, turbinites, Nerites, small
anomias with entrochites, &c.
Such is the structure o f Dalecarlia, as far as it is described by Hi-
singer. Imperfect and unsatisfactory as his account is, I think we may
infer from it without much hesitation, that the basis o f Dalecarlia consists
of primitive rocks; but that the greatest part o f the surface consists
of floetz rocks, especially sandstone and limestone, containing
the usual petrifactions, which distinguish floetz limestone. We may
conclude likewise that the porphyry, which sometimes alternates with
these rocks, belongs also to the floetz formation. From any thing that
appears in Hisinger’s description of the' Country there is no reason to
conclude that any transition rocks have hitherto been observed in Dalecarlia.
The reader will be apt to accuse me of culpable negligence in
not determining the structure o f this country by actual inspection.
But Dalecarlia is o f such extent, its rocks are so imperfectly exposed
to view, and they vary so much in their nature; that a very long period
would have been requisite to determine so difficult a point in a satisfactory
manner; much longer than the entire period which it was in my
power to allot to the investigation of the whole country.