70 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vii^ 



impressions are probably marks of the spines and fins of fishes, 

 striking the bottom or trailed over it. Some of the beds at 

 Hortou Bluff are as completely striated in this way as if glaciated, 

 only that the striae are individually more definite and are in all 

 directions. 



It is worthy of note that these markings strikingly resemble 

 the so-called Eophyton described by Torell from the Primordial 

 of Sweden, and by Billings from that of Newfoundland ; and 

 which also occurs abundantly in the Primordial of New Bruns- 

 wick. After examinino' a series of these markino-s from Sweden 

 shown to me by Mr. Carruthers in London, and also specimens 

 from Newfoundland, and a large number in situ at St. John, I 

 am convinced that they cannot be plants, but must be markings 

 of the nature of Babdichnites. This conclusion is based on the 

 absence of Carbonaceous matter, the intimate union of the 

 markings with the surface of the stone, their indefinite forms, 

 their want of nodes or appendages, and their markings being 

 always of such a nature as could be produced by scratches of a 

 sharp instrument. Since, however, fishes are yet unknown in 

 beds of this age, they may possibly be referred to the feet or 

 spinous tails of swimming crustaceans. Salter has already 

 suggested this origin for some scratches of somewhat different 

 form found in the Primordial of Great Britain. He supposed 

 them to have been the work of species of Hijmenocuris. These 

 marks may, however, indicate the existence of so die free-swim- 

 ming animals of the Primordial seas as yet unkn )wn to us. 



Three other suggestions merit consideration in this connection. 

 One is that algae and also land plants, drifting with tides or cur- 

 rents, often make the most remarkable and fantastic trails. A 

 marking of this kind was observed by Mr. G. M. Dawson last 

 summer to be produced by a Lamiuaria, and in complexity it 

 resembled the extraordinary jEnigmichnus multiformis of Hitch- 

 cock from the Connecticut sandstones. Much more simple 

 markings of this kind would sufl&ce to give species of Eophyton.. 

 Another is furnished by a fact stated to the author by Prof. 

 Morse, namely, that Liugulge, when dislodged from their burrows, 

 trail themselves over the bottom like worms, by means of their 

 cirri. Colonies of these creatures, so abundant in the Primor- 

 dial, may, when obliged to remove, have covered the surfaces of 

 beds of mud with vermicular markings. The third is that the 

 Rabdichnite-markings resemble some of the grooves in Siluriam 



