170 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. vi. 



of Natural History for 1867. The deposits are said to consist 

 of boulders, Leda clay and sand, and raised beaches, which, on the 

 authority of Prof. Hind, are stated to reach an elevation of 1200 

 feet above the sea. The hills to a height of 2500 feet are roun- 

 ded as if by ice action. Some higher hills present a frost-shat- 

 tered surface at their summits. No directions of striae are given, 

 and they appear to be rare. Mr. Campbell, author of '' Frost and 

 Fire," mentions examples with course N. 45^ E. in the Strait of 

 Belle Isle. It is remarkable that true Boulder-clay is rare in 

 Labrador, though loose boulders are abundant in the valleys and 

 on the inland table land. Dr. Packard attributes the absence of 

 Boulder-clay to denudation. This may be the cause, but it is to 

 be observed that, on that view of the origin of Boulder-clay which 

 attributes it to ice-laden arctic currents, there must always have 

 been in the course of such currents areas of denudation as well as 

 areas of deposition, and an elevated table-land like that of Labra- 

 dor, in a high northern latitude, may well have been of the former 

 character. 



The Leda clay occurs in several places. In 1860, 1 published 

 a list of species collected by Capt. Orlebar; and Packard has 

 greatly added to the number, giving a list which will be referred 

 to farther on. Dr. Packard very truly remarks that the fauna 

 of the Labrador clays is very similar to that now found on the 

 coast, and called by him the Syrtensian fauna. In the latter we 

 have a few southern forms, absent in the clay, but this is all. 

 Further, the Labrador Post-pliocene fauna is identical or 

 nearly so with that of similar deposits in South Greenland, 

 described by MoUer and Rink. Thus the climatal conditions 

 of the arctic current on the coast of Labrador seem to have 

 in no respect diifered in the Post-pliocene from those which 

 obtain at present. The I^eda clay with its chariicteristic fossils 

 is found as high as 500 feet above the level of the sea. 



Raised beaches and terraces, whethei'cut into sand and clay or 

 the hard metamorphic rocks of the coast, are as common in Lab- 

 rador as alono; the shores of the River St. Lawrence. Their 

 precise altitudes are not given, but they appear to be very nume- 

 rous and to rise to a great height above the sea. One feature of 

 some interest is their consisting in some places of large stones and 

 boulders, evidencing very powerful action of coast ice and currents. 

 Packard speaks of many of these beaches as moraines modified 

 by the sea, but he gives no reason for this except the general 



