Unfortunately, we have no settled nomenclature for the varieties of coal, excepting the broad names lignite or brown coal, bituminous coal, and anthracite. Even the term "bituminous" is scientifically inaccurate, there being, in fact, no bitumen in any coal. But it is applied to such coals as contain more oxygen and volatile combustible matter and water than anthracite, and less of these elements than lignite. The term lignite is made to include a great variety of substances, covering the lignites of the Juro-Trias of James River (Dutch Gap), which retain not only the structure, but the appearance of decaying wood; the lignites of the State of Mississippi, which are of the same geologic age as those of the Rocky Mountains, but which, owing to their watery and crumbly character, are unfit for market; the lignites of the Grand and Moreau rivers of Dakota, which are reported to have no commercial value; the lignites of Bozeman, Montana, which are really valuable, but soon break down into chips and grits; the lignites of Green River, Wyoming, which are firm, bright, lump coals; and the lignites of King County, Washington Territory, many of which are hard, bright, steam and shipping coals. And when brought to the laboratory, it is found that chemically these lignites vary even more than they do optically. [Sidenote: Lignite an unsuitable name for the coals of Washington Territory.] This want of a varied nomenclature is to be regretted, because it sometimes handicaps a good coal with an inferior name. It is only of late that the Laramie or Cretaceous coals of Washington Territory have been divided into lignites, bituminous coals, and anthracites. These grade into each other so insensibly that it would be impossible to classify them sharply. None of the lignites which I saw were as low in grade as the typical lignite. The woody structure was quite discernible in some samples of the Franklin coal, and less in the Newcastle and Green River; but in respect to the two latter, I could not with the naked eye discern more of the woody structure than I have seen in some of the West Virginia coals, which belong to the Carboniferous period. I sat by fires of Newcastle and neighboring coals for a month, and observed no unusual amount of smoke, and no peculiar odor. By analysis, these coals show a larger percentage of oxygen than the typical bituminous coal, but decidedly less than is found in the brown coal of Germany, or in some of the lignites of Montana. They need a new name. Their heating power is not so great as that of the bituminous coals of the same region. Their streak and powder are less black, and their fracture more conchoidal, but not decidedly so.