[amr] SYNOPSIS OF THE GEOLOGY OF CANADA 207 
ity of Bear River and Nictaux where it consists for the most part of dark 
gray and green and brown shales or reddish sandstone or arenaceous lime- 
stones, considerably squeezed and altered, constituting the Bear river 
formation. Pleurodictyum problematicum is one of the characteristic 
species of this horizon which is evidently lower or Ko-Devonian. 
The Devonian period in this province must have been one 
of extreme volcanic activity. It is most probable that the large areas 
of intrusive granites of the South mountain and other elevations along 
the main axis of Nova Scotia were thrown up during this period. Along 
McArras’s brook, in Antigonish county, an extensive series of red shales 
and marls associated with tufaceous bands and grits appear to be shal- 
low water and terrigenous in origin, and carry a fauna which in facies 
resembles that of Hereford, Eng., and the island of Spitzbergen. The 
presence of Ostracoderm and Cephalaspidian fishes indicate a horizon 
either at the base of the Devonian or the very summit of the (Upper) 
Silurian. This series of strata is designated as the Knoydart formation, 
and is a North American outcrop of the Lower or “Old Red sandstone” 
and Cornstone of Europe. 
Devonian strata appear on the north side of White Bay, Newfound- 
land, which resemble in general character the Gaspé sandstones. 
In Nova Scotia, lying unconformably underneath the limestones 
and gypsums of the province are found several thousand feet of strati- 
fied sandstones and shales, which carry a fauna and flora, whose affini- 
ties would place them within the Carboniferous system. This under- 
lying series which constitutes the Union and Riversdale formations, has 
been classified as Devonian by a number of geologists. These strata 
correspond, in their taxonomic relations, to the Mispec and Lancaster 
formations of New Brunswick, consisting of red slates, conglomerates, 
and black shales, ete. From the internal paleontological evidence obtain- 
ed during the last five years in rocks of this age, both in Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick, the writer is constrained to place these series both from 
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Carboniferous system. The 
Riversdale formation of Nova Scotia was placed in the Meso-carbonifer- 
ous (Millstone Grit) by Sir William Dawson. Dr. D. White and Mr. R. 
Kidston recently place the Lancaster and Riversdale floras in the middle 
and Upper Carboniferous of America and Europe, respectively. 
In Rocky Brook, Nashwaak, as well as on the Little Pokiok creek, 
along the Beccaguimic valley, N.B., strata, which, appear to belong to 
the early or Eo-Devonian have been traced by Prof. Bailey, and Mr. C. 
Robb, whilst at Campbellton, along the Baie de Chaleurs coast, certain 
volcanic ash-beds carrying fish remains described by Dr. Whiteaves and 
Prof. Traquair are classed here as the Campbellton formation in the Eo- 
