l-"l K. W. ELLS — STRATIGRAPHY OF THE "QUEBE( GROUP." 



necessary, owing i" the variety of statements, many of which are very con- 

 flicting, which have appeared "ii this subject from a large number of writers ; 

 much bo that, even in the case of those who have endeavored to follow out 

 the discussion most closely, much difficulty lias been experienced in arriving 

 at ajust conclusion as to the real geological position of this group of rocks. 

 When we consider that the bibliography of the subject embraces not li 

 than twenty nanus ami extends over a period of sixty-two years, or from 

 1827, when a j »:i j u- 1- by Dr. Bigsby first appeared, ii can be readily under- 



st 1 thai the task of getting so many diverse opinions together tin- the Bake 



of comparison is no very easy one. 



Histork Ai. Ul.YI EW. 



Bigsby's View. — It is probably unnecessary to spend much time in the con- 

 sideration of the earliest views expressed regarding the age and structure of 

 tiii- group. About Quebec ami Levis when' tiny were first studied by Dr. 

 I tigsby, they were regarded a- the probable equivalents of the Carboniferous 

 of England — a view doubtless to some extent arising Prom the presence of 

 considerable areas of blackish bituminous Limestone which occur in that 

 vicinity, ami certain curious deposits of black coaly, or rather pitchy, matter 

 found in joint- and -cam- in both the sandstones ami shales at various points, 

 the true nature of which was not at that time fully understood. 



Bayfu ill's View- — The next writer on the Bubject I Admiral Bayfield, 1845 

 assigned them to a much lower position, and regarded them as the equivalents 

 of the Lower Silurian in their lower strata, passing into the Lower portion 

 of the Upper Silurian or Oneida at their summit. This view obtained great 

 favor, and, from L845 marly to I860, the opinion was expressed by all the 

 Canadian geologists that the great area of rocks extending southeastward 



from the St. Lawrence river ami including the untain ran-'- of the 



eastern townships, or central and southeastern Quebec, represented Bome 

 portion of what was then regarded a- Middle Silurian ami largely of the 

 Hudson River division of the Champlain group of the New York geologists. 

 Not only did this classification embrace the comparatively unaltered ami 

 often fossiliferous Bediments of tie- St. Lawrence basin, hut the great -cries 

 of crystalline schists, gneisses, and associated rock- of the interior a- well ; 

 these latter being regarded simply a- the tnetamorphic equivalents of the 



jsiliferoue portion, from which all traces of organic life had been removed 

 by the changes to which it was claimed they had been subjected. Thi 

 altered or crystalline rocks were at the game time regarded as occupying 

 synclinals in the lower or fossiliferous slat 



/ /■/// mi'l Richardson. The Btudy of the rocks aboul Levi.- ami along 

 the south Bide of the St. Lawrence river in i he peninsula of Gaspe" revealed 



