84 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



Port Burwell, and fourteen miles west of Port Rowan ; they are 

 immediately uyon the lake shore. The Township of Charlotte- 

 ville is occupied almost altogether by sand, as is also Woodhouse. 

 In Charlotteville, near Norinandale, are several thousand acres of 

 blown sand, the only vegetation upon which consists of a few 

 stunted grasses, the i'hlox subulata, Viola cucullata and Polypo- 

 dium vulgare, and some scrub oaks and dwarf pines. These " oak 

 plains" as they are called, are perfectly valueless for agricul- 

 tural purposes. On page 185 of the Geology of Canada, 1863, 

 will be found a notice of the bog iron ore beds of this township. 



Proceeding to North Norfolk and South Oxford it is found 

 that the sand is here at the surface. It is unstratified and in 

 Windham, Burford, Townsend and Oakland Townships it also 

 seems to be unstratified and to have been derived entirely from the 

 subcerial denudation of the Oriskany sandstone and Corniferous 

 limestone. In Middleton Township, Norfolk County, the sand 

 is met with also and in some localities in the former township 

 sratified gravel. A somewhat peculiar feature — the dead forest — 

 is met with in Dereham, Middleton, Bayham and Malahide 

 Townships. In the summer of 1845 the pine trees in this re- 

 gion all died. Near Waterford in Townsend Township stratified 

 gravel is met with, while further north, both south and north of 

 Brantford the Erie clay is seen to re-appear. It is not only seen 

 in a brickyard south of the town, but also north along the cut- 

 ting of the Harrisburg and Brantford Railroad which was com- 

 pleted in 1871. At both localities the layers are contorted and 

 corrugated. In Walpole Township, especially at Jarvis, the 

 brown clay occurs at the surface. 



Proceeding eastward from Paris the sand overlies the blue 

 clay and forms the "plains" of Brantford Township. From 

 near Rosebank along the Governor's Road east nearly to Lynden, 

 the brown clay appears, and in the valley of Fairchild's Creek is 

 seento be stratified, and to overlie the stratified blue clay. Near 

 Troy in Beverly Township the calcareous blue clay is met with, 

 stratified and overlaid by the stratified brown clay and sands. 

 Thus this brown clay is apparently the stratigraphical equivalent 

 of the stratified brown clay at Port Rowan. On the second con 

 cession of Ancaster Township the clay contains calcareous con- 

 cretions and is here, about lot No. 7, overlaid by the sand. The 

 sand is met with to lot No. 23, when the clay re-appears for a 

 short distance. Approaching the edge of the Niagara escarp- 



