24 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The areas of these Charlotte county crystalline rocks are quite 

 small. On close examination the crystalline limestone is seen to pass 

 gradually into the ordinary blue variety which is associated with shales 

 and sandstone, both being in places filled with Silurian fossils. In the 

 crystalline limestone itself there are traces of organisms, mostly corals, 

 which have become silicified and flattened out by pressure of the sur- 

 rounding rocks, but which still shoAV the marks of their organic origin. 

 In the absence of these fossils, from a cursory examination or from hand 

 specimens only, these rocks might readily be taken for some part of the 

 pre-Cambrian. 



A striking similarity of occurrence is seen in the province of Que- 

 bec in a group of Silurian and Devonian slates and limestones on 

 Memphremagog lake. Here also the blue limestone is changed to a 

 true marble, the slates to talcose and mica schist, and the fossils, though 

 silicified and squeezed flat, yet retain their organic markings. A like 

 difficulty of classification was for a time experienced in these Quebec 

 rocks as in jSTew Brunswick, till the contained fossils were discovered, 

 and the cause of the alteration ascertained. 



The Hnronian division of the pre-Cambrian in the southern part 

 of the province included the Coldbrook, Coastal and Kingston; and 

 while the position of the first two has always been regarded as secure, a 

 certain amount of doubt has for many years existed in regard to por- 

 tions of the last named. Thus the Coldbrook and Coastal are overlaid 

 by the Cambrian at a number of points, as is also the case with some 

 portions of the Kingston, as seen along the St. Jolm river ; but at other 

 points the latter appears to be closely associated with sediments, which 

 contain Silurian fossils, in which there is an apparent dip beneath the 

 rocks of the Kingston peninsula. This peculiarity of structure at one 

 time led to the supposition on the part of one of the local geologists that 

 the group as a* whole should be referred to the Silurian rather than to 

 the Huronian, and they were so described in one of the Eeports of the 

 Geological Survey for the year 1877-78. A re-examination of the area, 

 however, showed that the Silurian sediments rested unconformably on 

 the flanks of the crystalline rocks, so that this view of the structure was 

 abandoned. 



The rocks of the Kingston group, as found in the Kingston penin- 

 sula, from which place the name for the division was derived, were sup- 

 posed to extend south-west froip the St. John river to the east coast of 

 Passamaquoddy bay in Charlotte county. No trace of fossiliferous 

 Cambrian is, however, found in this direction, these rocks being prac- 

 tically confined to the areas east of the St. John river; but certain 

 reddish conglomerates Avith sandstone occur along the railway west of 



