No. 1.] DAWSON — GEOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA. 13 



a paper by Dr. H,, which was read before the Natural History 

 Society, and I was requested by him to give some opinion as to 

 their age and nature, which I did, after consulting the late Mr. 

 Billings, and added a note on the subject to Dr. H.'s paper when 

 it was published. Some time afterwards I was surprised to find 

 Mr. Salter's authority cited in direct opposition to mine, with 

 the usual flourish of trumpets as to a great mistake discovered 

 and exposed. On re-examining the fossils, which still remain in 

 my collection, T could not change my opinion of their nature; 

 and never having had an opportunity to compare notes with my 

 poor friend Salter, one of the soundest palaeontologists of our 

 time, and who has on more than one occasion done us good 

 service in determining difl&cult fossils, as the pages of Acadiaa 

 Geology show, I have not yet had any solution of the mystery, 

 and have not complained of this, though I felt that I had received 

 a poor return for an intended service. The fossils themselves 

 are however of some interest. They consist of two turbinate 

 corals from Lochaber, one from Marshy Hope, one from Doctor's 

 Brook, and one from French River, with a few other species from 

 Lochaber. These corals arc in the form of mere impressions, in 

 which state it is not always easy even to distinguish genera. 

 Still, in the deep fossette, the character of the septa, and the 

 traces of the horizontal tabulae, they all have the characters of 

 Zaphrentis naher than Petraia; except one from Lochaber, wliich 

 which can scarcely be anything other than a Heliophijllam. The 

 other fossils from Lochaber are a Steiiopora similar to one found 

 at Arisaig and East River, Strophomena rJiomhoidalis, an Orthis 

 resembling 0. elegantida, and shells resembling Pentumeras and 

 Atrypa^ but not well preserved. The Zaphrentis from Doctor's 

 Brook resembles Z. Stokesii, a species of Niagara age. That 

 from Marshy Hope seems different, and in its form and deep cup 

 resembles the Z. rugnlata of Billings from the G-aspe limestones. 

 These might f.iirly belong to the Lower Arisaig series, and pos- 

 sibly to the lower part of it. The French River specimen is 

 merely a cast of the exterior and quite undeterminable. But the 

 Lochaber species seems different, having a shallow cup, with deep 

 fossette, and from its association with Ilelioplijjlliun and the 

 other fossils, I still think it probable that it belongs at least to a 

 higher horizon than that of the Lower Arisaig. Of course as I 

 have not seen the speciaiens submitted to Salter, I cannot express 

 any opinion as to them ; but if similar to mine, I am at a loss to 



