OP ARTS AND SCIENCES. 227 



Peninsula of Avalon, Newfoundland. — The south-southeastern part 

 of Newfoundland, between Cape Race, the Bay of Placeutia, and 

 Trinity Bay, is occupied by some outcrops of syenite and gneiss, 

 which cut into and cross the argillites, slates, quartzites, and con- 

 glomerates. 



The following fossils have been found at Branch, in St. Mary's 

 Bay and at Chapel Arm, Trinity Bay, in an argillite analogous to that 

 of Bi'aintree, and also directly in contact with the syenitic granite : 

 Paradoxides Bennettii Salt., Parad. decoris and Parad. tenellus Bill., 

 Agroidos socialis and Agr. affinis Bill., Solenopleura communis Bill., 

 Annpolenus venustus Bill., and Oholella 1 miser Bill. 



Tlie argillite of Newfoundland covers a much lai'ffer surface than that 

 of Braintree ; the Paradoxides Bennettii is almost as large as Par. Hat' 

 lani. This small trilobitic fauna not only belongs also to the lower part 

 of the " Paradoxides zone," but is very likely contemporaneous with 

 that of Braintree. In the theoretic section these two faunae are placed 

 together in the middle of the St. Albans group and below the Acadian 

 Group of St. John, New Brunswick. 



In Conception Bay, to the east of Branch and Chapel Arm, at 

 Great Bell Island, and at Topsail Head and Brigus, in sandstone con- 

 glomerate and argillite, the following fossils have been found : Eophy' 

 ton Linnceanum Torell, Eoph. Jukesi Bill., Arthraria antiquata Bill., 

 Lingnla Murrayi Bill., Lingulella spissa Bill., and Lingulella off,nis 

 Bill., Iphidea bella Bill., Cruziana similis Bill., Paleophicus, and two 

 or three new species of Lingula. 



Lastly, in the argillite of the town of St. John's have been found 

 Aspidella Terranovica Bill., Stenotheca pauper Bill., Scenella reticulata 

 Bill., and Arenicolites spiralis Bill.* 



The absence of trilobites and the presence of such forms as Eophy- 

 ton and Arenicolites found in Sweden below the Paradoxides zone, 

 and other new or very ancient and very enduring forms, such as Lin- 

 gula and Lingulella, seem to indicate a greater age for this fauna than 

 that of the Paradoxides zone ; that it corresponds to the divisions 

 of " Eophyton and fucoid sandstones " of Sweden, of Linnarson ; and 

 that, we have there the oldest fossils, until now, found in the eastern 

 region of North America. 



This fauna, certainly more ancient than Barrande's typical Primor- 

 dial fauna of Bohemia, and which I place at the lower part of the 



* See Geological Survey of Newfoundland, Report of Progress for the Year 

 1881, p. 13, and Appendix (St. John's, 1882). 



