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460 R. W. ELLS — STRATIGRAPHY OF THE "QUEBEC GROUP 



extent, sonic of the pebbles in which are derived from the debris of the pre- 

 existing hills in close proximity and just described. Owing, however, to 

 the great folding which these have all undergone, the two series frequently 

 appear to be conformable. They have not a,s yet been found to contain 

 fossils, but this is doubtless in some measure owing to the fact that but little 

 attention has been devoted to this aspect of the case. They are, however, 

 in all probability the equivalents of those which flank the Green mountains 

 to the south and from which Walcott has obtained his lowest Cambrian 

 fauna. In the area east of the Sherbrooke anticlinal the upper part of the 

 Cambrian is concealed, but on the west side of the Sutton mountain range, 

 towards the plain of the St. Lawrence, this upper portion is displayed in 

 tic red and green slates aud greenish sandstones which we recognize as the 

 Sillery proper and into which the slaty andquartzose beds of the lower Cam- 

 brian appear to graduate. 



In connection with the lower Cambrian of this area, large masses of ser- 

 pentinous rocks are found. These are in many cases associated with diorites 

 and sometimes with granitic masses. Frequently the serpentine appears as 

 knolls surrounded by slates and sandstones. In some places the slates in 

 contact are bluish-gray roofing-slates, as at Melbourne; in others they are 

 reddish or purple, black or gray, as at Coleraine. In Thetford and Brough- 

 tou the rocks with the serpentine are quartzose sandstones and bluish-gray 

 and black slates, as is also the case in the Chaudiere river section. Serpen- 

 tines are. however, occasionally found with schistose rocks which are regarded 

 as of pre-Cambrian age, so that it would appear that they are not confined 

 to either one of the great geological systems. 



Work on the St. Lawrence. — That portion of the Quebec group more im- 

 mediately bordering on the St. Lawrence possesses, however, special interest 

 from the facl of its containing fossils at many detached points. During the 

 years 1887—88 much detailed work was done in this section with the object 

 of determining, if possible, the true stratigraphical relations of the several 

 divisions, and of conclusively solving the question of the relative position of 

 the Sillery and Levis, deferred from 1-SH2. The results of this work have 

 just appeared in the report of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1887 '88, a 



brief outline of which may serve to make clearer BOme of the puzzling ques- 

 tion- of stratigraphy and paleontology there presented. 



Of the three anticlinals described in the southeastern portion of the prov- 

 ince, but one, viz., thai of th" Sutton mountain, is visible in this direction. 

 This extends for many miles with ;> regular uortheasterly course, and, with 

 Borne breaks, the Beriee of schists and crystalline rocks already described can 

 be traced into Gaspe\ A- in the sectional Sherbrooke, the schistose series 

 is overlain on either Bide by the black -late- ami quartzites of the lower 



