2 J. "W. DAWSON ON SOME RELATIONS OE 



Nothing cau be more remarkable than the strong similarity iu mineral character of these 

 ancient rocks in all their wide extension in both continents. 



The areas occupied by these pre-Cambrian rocks in Great Britain are so limited, and 

 their statigraphical complexities are so great, that some controversy still exists as to their 

 arrangement ; but the prospect is that they will ere long be admitted on all hands to cor- 

 respond in their order of occurrence with the Canadian series. 



The long-agitated question of the animal nature oî Eozoon Canadense is now in a some- 

 what quiescent state ; but I have been pleased to find a pretty uniform current of opinion 

 m its favour among those best cjualified to judge. Dr. Carpenter has for some time been 

 engaged in a careful re-examination of all the more important specimens, with a view to the 

 publication of an exhaustive monograph on the subject, which is to be illustrated with 

 large and admirably executed figures. I had the pleasure, shortly after my arrival in 

 England, of spending a few days with Dr. Carpenter and aiding him in this work, as 

 well as of furnishing him with notes of the geological relations and mode of occurrence 

 of the specimens. 



Thanks to the labours of Hall, Barraude, and Billings, the correlation of the great 

 Silurian series of Europe and America is now in a somewhat complete and satisfactory con- 

 dition. America, which is so eminent in its representation of the life of the Silurian, is 

 still somewhat behind in the recognition of the Cambrian and the determination of its 

 fossils. "We are however steadily advancing in this matter, more especially in Canada, and 

 I hope that the excellent work of Mr. Matthew on these ancient fossils, in connection 

 with this Society, will be continued and enlarged. The re-arrangement and more com- 

 plete display of the Palœozoic fossils in the new Museum at South Kensington will place 

 the means of comparison with British forms iu a more advanced position than formerly. 



When in Belgium, I had the pleasure of examining the interesting collections of 

 Devonian plants of that country which have been described by M. Crepin. I was struck 

 with the close correspondence of the forms with ours in Canada, — a correspondence more 

 marked in the specimens themselves than iu the published engravings, owing to close 

 similarity of the state of preservation and the containing rock. In Britain also, my friends, 

 the Rev. Thomas Brown of Edinburgh and Mr. Kidstou of Stirling, have been extending 

 our knowledge of the Devonian flora, and find, as in this country, the lower portions of 

 that system to be characterized hj such forms as Psiluphi/ton, Arthrostigma and Prolotaxites, 

 while the ferns of the genus, ArcJueopferis, and Lepidodendroid species are equally note- 

 worthy in its upper members. As yet no flora corresponding in richness to that of our 

 Middle Devonian or Middle Erian has been recognized. 



Yery remarkable discoveries of millipedes and scorpions have been made by Peach 

 in the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous of Scotland, which place that country far in 

 advance of America, though Nova Scotia afforded the earliest Carboniferous millipede 

 known. That millipedes existed in the Lower Devonian of Scotland is a fact in harmony 

 with the occurrence of winged insects in the Middle Devonian of New Brunswick. Mr. 

 Peach's discoveries also indicate very remarkable affinities between the scorpions and the 

 euryi)terid crustaceans, some of which seem to have been aquatic scorpions. 



With reference to the Carboniferous flora, I had the pleasure of spending a week with 

 my old friend, Prof. Williamson of Manchester, and of inspecting under the microscope the 

 magnificent series of preparations of structures which he has been accumulating for many 



