Summary: Cordierite commonly alters to chlorite-sericite, called pinite. Besides pinite alteration, cordierite from the Fishtail Lake shows textural evidence indicating retrogression to kyanite, andalusite, and coarse flakes of chlorite. This is consistent with the experimental data on the stability of cordierite and may be expected to be limited to potash-deficient rocks, such as the cordierite-garnet-gedrite bearing gneisses of the area. In common potash-bearing pelitic rocks, retrogression of cordierite results in the formation of sericite and chlorite. In gneisses containing sillimanite and cordierite, the breakdown of cordierite in this way results in the association of the three aluminosilicates (kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite) in the same rock. The association of kyanite-andalusite in equilibrium probably suggests that the retrogression of cordierite took place close to the univariant line of kyanite-andalusite.