22 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



north-eastern Maine. The river St. John occupies a depres- 

 sion in these, strata, or, as at Grand Falls, has cut a channel 

 through them. The river valley is now in great part occupied 

 by terraces, which form such a conspicuous part of the 

 scenery of the upper St. John. 



These terraces continue for about a mile up the Tobique, 

 ceasing for a short distance at the Narrows, where the river 

 has cut its way through a high Silurian ridge, which here 

 has barred its course to the St. John. The rocks consist 

 here, as elsewhere in the Silurian tract, of calcareous slates 

 with thin bands of limestone, all of which, through great 

 bending and contortion, stand almost vertical. In the lime- 

 stone, fossils of Silurian age have been found. Elsewhere 

 plant remains have been found, which are thought to be of 

 Devonian species, an evidence that the Devonian is also 

 included in the Silurian region, though it is separated with 

 difficulty from true Silurian strata. 



The ridge just mentioned as situated near the mouth of 

 Tobique, attains a height of 1,200 feet a few miles back of 

 Eed Kapids. The crumbling calcareous slates produce a rich 

 soil, and where the hills are not too steep, it makes a fine 

 farming country. Several settlements, as Birch Ridge and 

 Scotch Settlement, have already sprung up here and are 

 thriving. 



About Red Rapids we come to the outskirts of the Lower 

 Carboniferous outlier of Victoria County, already referred to, 

 which occupies a depression in the Silurian. It has a maximum 

 width of twelve and length of twenty-seven miles, its length 

 being in the direction of the river valley. 



The beds have a slight dip towards the north, and iliere- 

 fore towards the centre of the basin, so that in travelliny up 

 river we see a section of the formation. 



Skirting the upturned Silurian rocks are coarse red 

 conglomerates and sandstones, the succe^^sive ledges of wmch 

 are well seen in ascending Red Rapids. Above the rapids 

 for some miles no further outcrops appear along i he nver,. 

 for its banks are occupied by terraces and alluvial flr^, i>ut 



