400 Geological Society. 



The deposits near Quebec fill a valley formed in a horizontal 

 limestone, containing Trilobites and Orthocera, and they resemble 

 those forming in the bed of the St. Lawrence. They consist of 

 strata of sand, gravel, and stiff blue clay, the last composing the 

 bottom of the series, and the first the uppermost part. Numerous 

 boulders occur at different levels, not resting upon each other, but 

 dropped apparently at widely distant intervals of time, from masses 

 of ice on which it is supposed they had been floated. Some of the 

 shells are broken, but many are perfect, and have both their valves 

 together ; and it is impossible to imagine that the clay, sand, gravel, 

 and boulders could have been drifted together, into their present 

 position, by a violent rush of water, as the fragile Terebratula psit- 

 tacea is found perfect, and with its interior appendages complete. 



On first examining the shells, which are found principally in the 

 upper sandy bed, Mr. Lyell was struck with their great resemblance to 

 those which he had collected at Uddevalla in Sweden. The Saxicava 

 rugosa, so predominant there, is particularly mentioned by Capt. 

 Bayfield as the most abundant shell in the tertiary strata of the 

 St. Lawrence ; and the Natica clausa and Pecten Islandicus are very 

 common at each locality. The fossils of Beauport, however, con- 

 sidered as a whole, by no means agree with the marine shells inha- 

 biting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but, as far as they have been ex- 

 amined, possess a decidedly arctic character, the species ranging 

 from the Gulf to the border of the north polar circle, or being 

 found in the newer pliocene of Scotland and Sweden ; and on the 

 contrary many of the most conspicuous of the living testacea of the 

 St. Lawrence are wanting in the tertiary deposits. 



The following list of some of the fossil species is given by Mr. 

 Lyell on the authority of Dr. Beck : My a truncata (var.), found fossil 

 in Bute, and living in the St. Lawrence ; Mya arenaria and Saxi- 

 cava rugosa, recent in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; Tellina calcarea, 

 fossil at Bute ; Tellina Grcenlandica, which exists in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and at Icy Cape ; Mytilus edulis ; Pecten Islandicus, 

 found living in the North Sea, and fossil in Scotland; Terebratula 

 psittacea, which occurs on the coasts of Greenland and the Feroe 

 Islands ; also at places intermediate between them and the entrance 

 of the Baltic ; Natica clausa, recent in Greenland and fossil at Ud- 

 devalla ; Scalaria Grcenlandica, S. borealis, Tritonium fornicatum, T. 

 Anglicanum, all now existing in the Greenland seas, the last being 

 considered by some authors as a variety of Buccinum undatum, and 

 the T. fornicatum being also found living on the Irish coast, and 

 fossil at Dalmuir and in Scotland. On the other hand, many of 

 the shells living in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and most conspicuous 

 for their size, are wanting in the collections of fossils hitherto ob- 

 tained, as the Mactra solidissima,ErycinaLabradorica, Purpura, allied 

 to P. Lapillus, Natica Heros, and Rostellaria occidentalis. 



The torrents and rivers which flow into the St. Lawrence wash 

 down annually into that estuary great numbers of tertiary fossil 

 shells, so that they become mingled with the living testacea. The 

 latter, however, may be generally distinguished by retaining their 

 colour, animal matter, or ligaments ; but it is more difficult to di-. 



