4 L. W. BAILEY : 



tion embodied in these maps and reports, those next undertaken had relation chiefly to 

 the formations bordering upon the Grulf of St. Lawrence and Bay des Chaleurs, while 

 examinations were simultaneously made of portions of the Province lying to the north 

 of the great central coal-field, and along the valley of the St. John. Maps, illustrative 

 of the eastern coast, fiA^e in number, were prei^ared and issued, under direction of Dr. 

 Ells, in 1882, while of those relating to the St. John River region, the first appeared in 

 1884, a second in 1886, and the last two, completing the entire series for New Brunswick, 

 will be published in the present year. 



Prior to the preparation of these maps, two geological maps of the Province had 

 been published, viz., one by Prof. James Eobb, in 185»), chiefly based upon the earlier 

 observations of Dr. A. G-esuer, though to some extent supplemented and modified by his 

 own, and a second published by Sir W. Dawson in his " Acadian Geology," 1886, and 

 further modified in 1888. That those since issued by the G-eological Survey should 

 exhibit a great advance upon the former is no more than would naturally be expected ; 

 for though the map of Dr. Eobb represents, in a large measure, the results of surveys 

 made with provincial aid, these nevertheless embody the labors, at most, of but two 

 observers, were undertaken at a time when the country was far less generally cleared 

 and less accessible than at present, and belong to a period when the science of geology 

 itself was comparatively in a state of infancy ; while that of Sir "W. Dawson, though far 

 more advanced than the former, and far more accurate both in its topographical and geo- 

 logical details, was also largely based upon the scattered observations made by himself 

 and others, and largely without governmental assistance. The progress made in the 

 Survey maps, under the direction of Dr. Selwyn, is specially marked in more exact 

 topographical delineation, the result of careful and systematic instrumental surveys, and 

 also in the more positive determination, through fossils and stratigraphy, of the age of 

 the formations represented. In the later sheets, increased attention has been paid to the 

 determination of elevation and the representation of reliefs, but owing to the increased 

 cost involved in work of this kind, the maps, in this particular, are still less complete 

 than could be desired. These maps are then, for the present at least, to be regarded as 

 the final results of the official surveys of New Brunswick. It will, however, be readily 

 understood that, in the course of labours extending over eighteen years, carried on by 

 various observers, and that too in a region remarkable for the complexity of its structure, 

 some diversity of opinion should exist, and that results obtained in the later yerirs, and 

 in the portions of the Province last examined, should, by reffection, tend to modify, to 

 some extent, those gathered in the districts first studied. It will probably, therefore, not 

 be without advantage to make 'here a brief resurvey of the field, stating which of the 

 earlier conclusions, of general interest, have stood their ground, those which require 

 modification in the light of more recent knowledge, and in what directions further 

 information is desired. 



Commencing with the earlier formations, it is gratifying to know that the recognition 

 of Azoic or Archœan rocks, as occurring near the city of St. John, and which was first 

 announced by Mr. Matthew and the author, in 186:),' has been amply and fully confirmed. 

 Between these rocks and the overlying Primordial, the evidences of uuconlbrmability are 



'Observations on Geology of Southern New Brunswick, Fredericton, ISeS. 



