102 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IX. 



employs for distinguishing certain non-fossiliferous formations. 

 He not only condemns such " mineralogical stratigraphy," but 

 adverts, in a manner which must grate very harshly on the feel- 

 ings of many, to the " palseontological stratigraphy" of his 

 revered predecessor. Yet on the next page Mr. Selwyn proceeds 

 to class together groups of rocks of almost every conceivable 

 origin, and very questionable age, as belonging to the Huronian 

 system. I need not detail the extraordinary differences which 

 distinguish the various members of this heterogeneous com- 

 bination, both in mineralogical, lithological and stratigraphical 

 respects. Mr. Selwyn himself points out one of these differences 

 when he maintains that the copper ores of the Huronian and 

 " Upper Copper bearing " rocks occur under conditions quite, as 

 distinct as those of his first and second divisions in the Quebec 

 group. Mr. Selwyn's own recapitulation of what is to be classed 

 as Huronian is a proof that his plan of applying stratigraphy 

 pure and simple is not likely to be a great improvement on the 

 methods of those who have preceded him. It may, like his 

 views on the Quebec group, have the merit of simplicity, but we 

 must not allow ourselves to be influenced overmuch by the ad- 

 vantages of this peculiarity. Instead of disparagement, such 

 efforts as those of Dr. Hunt merit our warmest thanks, and we 

 must wish him every success in his efforts to determine the value 

 of mineral fossils in crystalline rocks. As he himself very fitly 

 remarks, "In no other way did William Smith prove, in Great 

 '' Britain, the value of organic fossils, and thus lay the foundations 

 " of palaeontological geology." 



(Read before the Natural History Society of Montreal, 28th April, 1879.) 



