304 Miscellantus. 



thickness. The lower coal-measures (or Lower Carboniferous 

 freshwater or estuarine deposits) have here a thickness of about 

 600 feet. These beds are traceable as far as the Shnbenacadie 

 and Stewiacke Rivers. They outcrop also on the south side of 

 the Cobequid Mountains, where the marine portion is very thin, 

 owing perhaps to the fact of these mountains having been land in 

 the coal-period. 



Along the northern side of the Cobequid Range, the upper and 

 middle coal-measures and the marine portion of the Lower Car- 

 boniferous series are of great thickness. The lower beds are 

 absent here, though brought up on the northern side of the 

 coaitrough of Cumberland, where in New Brunswick (Peti- 

 codiac River, &c), they are remarkable for their highly bitu- 

 minous composition, their well-preserved fish-remains, and the 

 almost entire absence of plants. To the north, at the Ray of 

 Chaleurs, the great calcareous conglomerate, with sandstone and 

 shale, 2766 feet thick, described by Logan, and containing a few 

 plant-remains, probably represent the Lower Coal-measures of 

 Nova Scotia. In eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton the Middle 

 Coal measures are found at Caribou Cove and elsewhere; the 

 marine limestones and gypsums, and the underlying sandstones 

 and shales, are seen at Plaister Cove ; also at Right's River, and 

 St. Mary's River. 



In Nova Scotia these older coal-measures, as compared with 

 the true coal-measures, are more calcareous, more rich in remains 

 of fishes, and have fewer vegetable remains, and indications of 

 terrestrial surfaces. They occur generally along the margins of 

 the coal-areas, near their old shores ; and, as might be expected 

 under such circumstances, they are associated with or replaced by 

 beds of conglomerate derived from the neighbouring highlands of 

 Devonian or Silurian rocks. When the conglomerates are absent, 

 alternations of sandstones with sandy and calcareous shales occur, 

 with frequent changes in character of the organic remains. The 

 general aspect being that of muddy estuarine deposits, accumu- 

 lated very slowly, and discoloured by decaying organic substances. 

 The supply of sediment, and the growth and preservation of vege- 

 table matter, appear to have been generally on a smaller scale in 

 this early carboniferous period than subsequently. In those dis- 

 tricts where the true coal-measures are least developed the lower 

 series is most important ; showing that the physical and vital condi- 

 tions of the Coal-measures originated as early as those of the Moun- 



