138 Silurian and Devonian Rocks 



they give any information, it coincides with the apparent relation 

 of the beds. Similar ferruginous beds occur in the Clinton series, 

 (the Surgent of Rogers) in New York and Canada ; and as we 

 shall find in the sequel, in a much higher position in the western 

 part of Nova Scotia. On the whole I regard the beds seen at the 

 East River of Pictou as belonging to the same line of outcrop 

 with the Arisaig series, but as containing in addition to the 

 upper member of that series, beds higher in the Silurian system, 

 or perhaps Lower Devonian. 



CoBEQUED Mountains. 



At the eastern end of this chain, in Earlton and New Annan, 

 though the rocks are generally in a highly metamorphosed con- 

 dition, fossils are found in a few places ; and in so far as I have 

 been able to determine from very small suites of specimens, are 

 those of the upper Arisaig series. From the apparent continuity 

 of strike along this long salient line of outcrop, it seems probable 

 that these fossils indicate the true age of the greater part of the 

 sedimentary rocks of the Cobequid hills ; a conclusion confirmed by 

 their similarity in mineral character to the altered equivalents of 

 the Arisaig and East River series as seen elsewhere. The 

 arrangement of the beds and their mineral contents in the central 

 part of the chain, will be found noticed in my paper of 1849, 

 already referred to. They are not known to contain beds of iron 

 ore ; but have enormous vein-like deposits of spathic and specular 

 iron associated with the carbonates of lime and magnesia, and run- 

 ning with the strike of the beds. 



New Canaan. 



Between the East River of Pictou, and New Canaan in King's 

 county, 100 miles distant, I know no Silurian beds with fossils ; 

 and in the central part of the province these rocks disappear 

 under the carboniferous deposits. In the hills of Horton 

 and New Canaan they reappear, and constitute the northern 

 margin of a broad belt of metamorphic and plutonic country, 

 occupying here nearly the whole breadth of the peninsula. The 

 oldest fossiliferous beds seen are the fine fawn-coloured and gray 

 clay slates of Beech Hill, in which Dr. Webster, many years since, 

 found a beautiful Dictyonema^ the only fossil they have hitherto 

 afforded. It is a new species, closely allied to D. retiformis and 

 D. gracilis of Hall, and will be described by that palaeontologist 

 under the name of D, Websteri, in honour of its discoverer. In 



