2o6 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



the excellent work performed by Sir William Logan and Mr. E. 

 Billings. 



Notwithstanding all the attacks that had been made upon 

 the validity of that term and the discussions on its significance, it 

 is as truly a natural group or division in the succession of pal- 

 aeozoic sediments in Eastern Canada to-day as it was in the 50's 

 and 6o's, and the chapters devoted to this most important study in 

 the "Geology of Canada" for 1863, are replete with wisdom and 

 forethought. 



On several occasions Mr. Billings made extensive collections 

 in the Silurian as well as in the Devonian formations of Ontario 

 and in the vicinity of Montreal, as can be seen from the collections 

 now in the Geological Department, but the bulk of his time was 

 devoted to the determination of geological horizons for mapping 

 purposes and the description of new genera and species brought 

 into the Department by the various field-geologists. Of genera 

 new to science, Mr. Billings described no less than sixty-one and 

 in all described 1065 new species of fossil organic remains from 

 various horizons in the Palaeozoic of Canada. He also contributed 

 many papers on natural history and zoology. 



He did much in assisting Sir William Logan to establish and 

 build up the Geological Museum ; for, besides the large number of 

 type species which he described, he identified as many more 

 again, species from Canada with forms previously described by 

 Conrad, Hall, Emmons, Vanuxem, Sowerby, and other palaeon- 

 tologists of America and Europe. 



His writings indicate a clear and precise mind, coupled with 

 a rare judgment, couched in a phraseology simple and to the 

 point. He published upwards of 170 distinct papers, memoirs, 

 or reports, many of which are now very difficult to obtain or 

 entirely out of print. The bulk of his writings are embodied in 

 the reports of the Geological Survey of Canada, comprising the 

 figures and descriptions of Canadian fossil organic remains, or 

 "Decades I, HI, and IV, the Palaeozoic Fossils, vol. i., parts 

 I to 5 ; Pal. Fos. vol. iii, parti"; part 3of which isstill unpublished. 

 While residing in Montreal he was a constant contributor to the 

 *' Canadian Naturalist" ; he also wrote important papers in the 



