142 



THE MUSEUM. 



Diplothecanthus rosaceus, Gray. "Sea Bis- 

 cuit," Bahamas. A curious species, after 

 Style of the large "Sea Beavers." 



of marine shells have been found. In 

 some localities certain kinds are found 

 in immense numbers. In a few places 

 fossil sponges have been discovered, 

 and once, in Charlotte, the skeleton 

 of an extinct species of whale was 

 found some eight or ten feet below the 

 surface of the earth. Another was 

 found near Montreal; this one was 

 carried to London, while the former is 

 now in the museum of the State House 

 at Montpelier. 



At length the same forces, which 

 caused the submergence of the conti- 

 nent, began to act in an opposite direc- 

 tion, and, as a result, the continent be- 

 gan to rise, and after the lapse of an 

 indeterminable space of time, it attain- 

 ed its present elevation. The changes 

 which took place during this period of 

 alternate depression and elevation, 

 most of which resulted from fractures 

 caused by unequal pressure of the up- 



lifting force, form one of the most in- 

 teresting, as well as intricate features 

 of surface geology. 



Before the submergence, the various 

 mountain ranges which form the Green 

 Mountain system, stretched in unbrok- 

 en masses throughout their whole ex- 

 tent. The Winooski, the Sawoille 

 and the Missisco rivers, which now rise 

 east of the principal ranges and flow 

 westerly through great chasms in the 

 mountains, which have been cleft in 

 their very base, had in those days no 

 existence. The same is true of the St. 

 Francis river, which now drains Lake 

 Memphremagog into the St. Lawrence 

 river. A large lake occupied the cen- 

 tral portion of what is now Washing- 

 ton county; another lake, very deep 

 but of smaller dimensions, covered what 

 is now the town of Hardwick. All this 

 and much more is learned by a study 

 of the terraces which formed the banks 

 of the ancient lakes and rivers, and 

 corroborated by an examination of 

 wave-lines upon the mountain sides. 



Now, Lake Memphremagog has an 

 elevation of six-hundred and eighty- 

 five feet above the ocean level. It has 

 an area of seventy-five square miles, 

 and by means of St. Francis river, it 

 is drained northerly into the St. I^aw- 

 rence river. Then, a mountain spur, 

 jutting off from the easterly range of 

 the Green Mountain system, extended 

 westerly, across the valley of the St. 

 Francis river in Canada, and formed a 

 barrier which raised the waters of the 

 lake to a height of five hundred and 

 eighty feet above its present level, and 

 caused it to expand over an area of 

 more than three thousand scjuare 

 miles. 



Black river is a small, sluggish, 

 uninteresting stream, flowing north and 



