14 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



dation of the geology of the maritime provinces, and begun when the 

 science of geology may be said to have been still in its infancy. 



In the early fifties Dr. C. T. Jackson made known to us some of 

 the fishes of the Lower Carboniferous of New Brunswick. To Sir 

 Eichard Owen we are indebted for the description of Baphetes planicep$ 

 and two other species of Stegocephalia from the Coal Measures of Nova 

 Scotia. 



Bathygnathus horealis, from the Triassic of Prince Edward island, 

 one of the earliest of the Theropoda and the only known dinosaur from 

 eastern Canada was described by Dr. Joseph Leidy in 1854. 



Sir William Dawson's first edition of "Acadian Geology" appeared 

 in 1855 and was followed in later yearsi, from 1859 on, by numerous 

 papers on the fishes and amphibians of the Carboniferous rocks. 



The large vertebrae from the Coal Measures of Nova Scotia, dis- 

 covered by Professor Marsh and named by him in 1862 Eosaurxis 

 acadianus, made known the existence of a Carboniferous Stegocephalian 

 of large size. These remains were thought by Professor Marsh to repre- 

 sent an lehthyopterygian reptile, but they have since been referred to 

 the Labyrinthodontia with uncertainty as to their family relationship. 



Professor E. Pay Lankester contributed in 1870 to our knowledge 

 of the Lower Devonian Cephalaspidg, having for his subject the remark- 

 able form Cephalaspis dawsoni, from Gaspé, named after its discoverer 

 Sir William Dawson. 



Vertebrate palaeontology in this country owes much to Professor 

 E. D. Cope, who, when he could ill afford the time, was willing to give 

 to us, in the cause of science, the benefit of his extensive knowledge of 

 the vertebrata. His memoir on tlie fauna of the Oligocène beds of the 

 Cypress hills was an important addition to the vertebrate palasontology 

 of this continent. 



Dr. J. F. Whiteaves has, between the years 1880 and 1889, in a 

 number of papers, placed before us the results» of his studies of the 

 rich fish-faunas of Campbellton, N.B., and Scaumenac bay. Que. In 

 two of these papers, read before this Society, the well-preserved speci- 

 ^mens of Bothriolepis canadensis and the Upper Devonian Crossoptery- 

 gian Eusthenopteron foordi are described and figured. 



Dr. G. F. Matthew was the fortunate discoverer in 1886, in rocks 

 of supposed Niagara age in New Brunswick, of the Ostracoderm 

 Cyaihaspis acadica. These remains, first described in 1886, and more 

 fully characterized in a number of papers of later date, represent a form 

 of vertebrate, the oldest yet discovered in Canada as regards its geolo- 

 gical age. If the views of some authorities be accepted it may be 



