*. 



164 On the Pre-carhoniferous Flora of 



companying section prepared by Mr. Mattliew, and which accords 

 •with such observations as I have been able to make. 



S E 



^'^■KtmiKBTCYAsii R. ^,^rr;y.-.r-r77>^ si ^ John. 



^h Q h de f 



Section of the vicinity of St. John. 



(a) Lower carboniferous conglomerate, (b) Crystalline limestones 

 of St. John group, (c) Syenite, (rf) Bed of graphite, (e) Inter- 

 stratified trappean rock, ffj Slates, shales, and sandstones of St. John 

 group. 



With respect to the age of these beds ; in the absence of deter- 

 minable animal fossils, I may state the following facts. (1) The 

 limestone and its associated shales underlie unconformably the 

 Lower Carboniferous conglomerate, which here appears to be the 

 oldest member of that system. This arrangement is general 

 throughout the belt to which the St. John rocks belong. (2) The 

 whole of the beds of the St. John group, appear to be confor- 

 mable to one another and to constitute one formation. (3) In min- 

 eral character, and especially in the occurrence of thick beds of 

 limestone and of graphite, the St. John rocks do not resemble 

 any of the Devonian or Silurian rocks of Nova Scotia, though 

 these occur in a similar state of metamorphism. They more 

 nearly resemble the Devonian of Gaspe. The Devonian rocks 

 known in Nova Scotia, appear to belong to the lower rather than 

 to the upper member of that system,* and they have afforded no 

 plants except indeterminable fragments. (4) The plants found in 

 the rocks of the St. John group, are specifically distinct from those 

 of the Carboniferous system in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick. 



In the map attached to Prof. Johnston's Report on the Agri- 

 culture of New Brunswick, Prof. Robb has coloured these rocks 

 as Lower Silurian. In my Acadian Geology, on the ground 

 chiefly of mineral character, i have with doubt placed them as 

 Upper Silurian or Devonian. The facts at present known show 

 them to be older than the Carboniferous system, though perhaps 

 belonging to the newest part of the Devonian. 



The following are the plants which I have been able to deter- 

 mine : — 



* Supplement to Acadian Geology, also Canadian Naturalist, Vol. 4. 



