Fossils of the- Lower Silurian RocJcs of Canada. 39 



.'aljilities in the endeavour to fulfil my obligations to their discoverer, and to 

 •satisfy the generally expressed wishes of the Society." 



From the above remarks of Professor Owen, one of the most profound 

 ■comparative anatomists of the age, it will be seen how much mystery still 

 remains to be cleared away from the fossil foot-prints at Beauharnois. Not 

 •a vestige of a bone or shell, or any other organic substance, has yet been 

 seen, which can throw any additional light upon the subject. The Potsdam 

 sandstone extends over large areas of the settled portions of Canada, and 

 we would recommend all those interested in Natural History, and who may 

 reside either upon or in the vicinity of the formation, to examine carefully 

 every exposure of the rock in their neighbourhood. He who is the first to 

 discover a Protichnites will have his name handed down to posterity 

 tlu'ough we know not how many future geological ages. 



In conclusion, we have only to add, that Protichnites is from the 

 Greek Protos, the first, — Ichnos, foot-print, or track, — and Lithoi, stone.; 

 literally — The first stone foot-priuts. 



ARTICLE IV.— On some of the characteristic fossils of the Lower Silurian 

 RocJcs of Canada. 



In the last article, we have seen, that from the Potsdam sandstone, a 

 formation 300 feet in thickness, and which probably required a prodigi- 

 ously long period of time for its accumulation, only a few species of fossils 

 have been procured. We are not, however, to conclude from this circum- 

 stance, that the seas in which this ancient rock was formed, were as thinly 

 inhabited as the scarcity of its organic remains appears to indicate. It is 

 well known that in the tropical oceans of the present day, where marine life 

 is most abundant, beds of rocks are in the process of being formed, in which 

 no petrifactions can be discovered. Were some future geologist to judge 

 of the condition of the neighbouring waters, with respect to their animated 

 contents, merely upon such grounds, he might decide that the Pacific was 

 an ocean without corals, mollusks, fish, or other living creatures, while we 

 Imow that no part of the world is more profusely stocked with animated 

 beings . For aught we know, therefore, the seas of the Potsdam sandstone 

 period may have been full of marine animals, and all that we can say upon 

 the subject is, that if it were so, then their remains have not been preserved. 



The Calciferous sandrock, which reposes upon the Potsdam sandstone, 

 is also comparatively barren. Its fossils are not numerous, and they are 

 almost always in a very bad state of preservation. When, however, we 

 ascend to the next overlying formations — ^the Chazy, — Birds-eye, — Black- 

 river, and Trenton limestones, we abruptly meet with strata packed full of 

 organic remains. If the previous seas were but sparsely inhabited, as some 

 geologists believe, then about the commencement of the formation of these 

 limestones, the water must have been suddenly fiUed with overwhelming 



