30 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



We thus find that while Dr. Gesiier had first spoken of the- 

 Graywacke or transition rocks as one system, he soon discovered 

 that there were two series t included in it, and that of these 

 two series the upper one was characterized by the remains of 

 marine shells and of land plants, and that the older series had 

 no organic remains. Subsequently when he came to explore the 

 Graywacke system in other parts of the province and could find 

 no organic remains in it he came to the conclusion that the 

 whole should be called Cambrian on account of the scmrity of 

 organic remains. So far as the geological reports are concerned, he 

 made this his final statement of the age of these rocks, they 

 being in this way contrasted with the Silurian (Upper) of the 

 northern port of the province in which he met with evidences of 

 a more abundant marine life. 



The description of the locality near St. John where the 

 marine animals of the Cambrian system wei^e found by Di-. 

 Gesner is as follows : " On the north side of the ravine, not far 

 from the pottery, and directly opposite Jeffrey's Hill (Garden 

 street) there is a bed of chert extending some distance in an east 

 and west direction, a few strata of slate meet the chert and in 

 them we found remains of shells." 



The pottery above mentioned was situated in the valley at 

 the foot of Garden street, and the ravine opposite would be the 

 hollow extending up from the west end of Wright street to the 

 west end of Seely street. Here we find the quartzite or hard' 

 sandstone of Band a in Division 1 of the St. John group, and 

 immediately in front of it the Paradoxides shale (Band c, of the 

 same division). There is no chert in this neighborhood, and the 

 rock so called by Dr. Gesner, I suppose to be the quartzite of the 

 St. John group. Division 1, Band a. The "few strata" of slate 

 in this case would be the shales of PJand c. At this point the}'" 

 yielded to Dr. Gesner's hammer the remains of "molluscous 

 animals." A figure of one of these is given and is called by 

 him a '■^ tcrehrahdite."* 



We find greatei- dillirultv in dealiii'' with the "cactus'" 



'Second Report, p. H. See page 17, super. 



