No. 1.] BAILEY — GRAND MANAN. 43 



ON THE PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE 

 ISLAND OF GRAND MANAN. 



By Prof. L. W. Bailey. 



The Island of Grand Manan, near the entrance of the Bay of 

 Fundy, though so long and so well-known for its picturesque 

 scenery and from the richness of the surrounding waters as a 

 fishing-ground for marine invertebrates, has received compara- 

 tively little attention at the hands of the geologist. Statements 

 bearing more or less directly upon its geological structure have 

 indeed appeared from time to time, but since the date of Dr. 

 Gesner's first exploration of the island (in 1838) no examinations 

 with a special view to the determination of that structure have 

 been made until quite recently. The most discordant views have 

 in consequence been entertained with reference to the age of its 

 rock formations. A visit, of some four days duration, made 

 during the summer of 1870, in pursuance of duties connected with 

 the Geological Survey of Canada, having enabled me to examine 

 a considerable portion of the island and to compare its rocks with 

 those recognized upon the main-land of New Brunswick, I propose 

 to give here some of the conclusions at which I have arrived. 



The general form of the island of Grand Manan is that of an 

 irregular elongated oval, of which the greater diameter is about 

 fifteen and the shorter about seven miles. Its surface, for pur- 

 poses of description, may conveniently be divided into two distinct 

 regions, contrasted equally in their physical and in their geolo- 

 gical features. Of these the westerly and more extensive tract, 

 embracing more than two-thirds of the main island, has the 

 character of a somewhat elevated plateau, traversed in a direction 

 parallel to its length by a series of minor ridges and depressions, 

 and exposing upon the western shore, which is remarkably uni- 

 form and entirely free from islands, a series of bold bluff's, vary- 

 ing from two to four hundred feet in elevation.^ This plateau is 

 for the most part well wooded (with birch, maple, beech, &c.,) 



♦ Among flowering plants observed on the island (August 22nd) 

 were Asters and Solidagots of several species, Scutellaria galericulata^ 

 Potentilla fruticosa^ Campanula rotundifolia^ Epilohium angustifolium^ 

 Sedum rhodiola, &c. 



