224 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. X. 



easterly direction to Seneca, where the immediate bed is about a 

 quarter of a mile wide, flowing near the southern side of a valley, 

 more than two miles wide. 



At Seneca the bed of the present river course is 365 feet above 

 Lake Ontario, or only 37 feet above Lake Erie. Eastward of 

 Seneca, the river continues to have its broad valley as far as Ca- 

 yuga, where the hard bed of the river is below the surface of 

 Lake Erie. 



From Seneca to Cayuga the direction of the river is nearly 

 south, but at the latter place it abruptly turns nearly to the east- 

 ward, and in a short distance it passes to a flatter country and 

 flows over Corniferous limestone. After a sluggish flow, it enters 

 Lake Erie (passing through a marshy country) at Port Mait- 

 land, more than fifteen miles in a direct line from Cayuga. 



The Grand river valley (75 feet deep) is more than two miles 

 in width and bounded by lateral elevations of 440 feet above 

 Lake Ontario, or 113 feet above Lake Erie; and farther by 

 boundaries; on both sides, of 160 feet above the latter lake. 



At Dunville, a few miles from the mouth of the river, piles 

 were driven to a considerable depth without reaching hard rock. 

 The margins of the valley are small, composed of either the more 

 or less shaly Onondaga rocks, or Corniferous limestone. In the 

 meanderings of the river from one side of the valley to the other, 

 it occasionally crosses spurs of earthy Onondaga limestones, but 

 the character is not such as to preclude the possibility of an adja- 

 cent buried river channel. At most, all the waters that could 

 cume down the Grand river, even with an increased pitch of the 

 country, and a larger precipitation of moisture would scarcely be 

 able to more than excavate its present bed. The country on either 

 one side of the river or other is remarkably broken within the 

 limits of the valley, but beyond it is equally remarkable for its 

 level surface. This broad peculiar valley bears a strong contrast 

 to that of the upper portion of its course (as at Elora) where the 

 cafion could have easily been excavated by the present stream if 

 sufficient time were given. 



Returning to the valley of Fairchild's creek, we find the stream 

 principally flowing in the former bed of the Grand river, aban- 

 doned a few miles below Gait since the Ice Age, This creek 

 crosses the Great Western Railway at a level of fifteen feet below 

 the crossing of the Grand river, at a few miles to the westward. 

 Again, the Fairchild's creek crosses the Brantford and Harris- 



