THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



^imvtetly loutnal of M^iut 



REMARKS ON RECENT PAPERS ON THE GEOLOGY 



OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



(From a Paper communicated to the Nova Scotian Institute of 

 Natural Science, by J. \V. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., &c.) 



The following remarks have reference to two papers by the 

 Rev. D. Honeyman, D.C.L., Curator of the Provincial Museum, 

 Halifax, published in the Transactions of the Nova Scotian In- 

 stitute of Natural Science, Vol. iv., Part iv., 1878. These papers 

 are respectively entitled — " Pre carboniferous Formations of 

 Annapolis and King's Counties," and '' Nova Scotian Geology, 

 Pre-carboniferous, Lower Carboniferous, &c." Special reference 

 will be made to the following points: (1.) The age assigned by 

 Dr. H. to the fossiliferous rocks of Nictaux and New Canaan 

 and their relation to the intrusive granites of the region. (2.) The 

 Geology of the Pre-carboniferous Rocks of the Eastern part of 

 Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. 



1. Nictaux and New CaiNaan. 



In the first of the papers above referred to, Dr. H. very freely 

 criticises my conclusions respecting the age of the rocks of these 

 localities, but does not take the trouble to state what these con- 

 clusions are, so that a reader unacquainted with the facts might 

 take it for granted that all these rocks had been referred to the 

 Devonian system, or that no definite idea of their age had pre- 

 viously been given. For this reason I shall take the liberty to 

 quote from a paper on the Silurian and Devonian Rocks of 

 Nova Scotia (April, 1860), my actual results, which are given 

 in nearly the same form in Acadian Geology, 2nd edition, 1868. 

 I may premise that these results were worked out at a time when 



Vol. IX. A No. K 



