60 BAILEY ON GEOLOGY OP 



one. Until therefore more definite evidence is obtained to the contrary, it would seem best 

 to adhere to the view adopted in the Survey Eeports that these rocks are Pre-Cambrian, 

 and presumably Huronian, being an extension westward of beds which traverse large 

 portions of southern New Brunswick, and which are at various points overlaid by fossil- 

 iferous Cambrian rocks. From the character of the rocks of the Cobscook (or Mascarene) 

 series, Prof. Shaler infers that they were deposited, probably, at no great distance from 

 land, along the eastern side perhaps of a ridge of Laurentian rock stretching up along the 

 eastern sea- board of America and separating the Silurian rocks of this region from those 

 formed in warmer waters on the western side of the same ridge, and north-west to 

 Auticosti. We shall haA^e occasion presently to refer to this conjecture again. Finally, 

 it is important to observe that the facts are siich as to indicate that the Campo Bello and 

 Deer Island rocks were subject to extensive elevation and erosion prior to the deposition 

 of the Cobscook series, as this in turn was largely removed before the deposition of the 

 rocks of Perry. 



As regards the so-called Perry Group, although recognized by all as the most recent 

 of the formations bordering Passamaquoddy Bay, considerable doubt has been enter- 

 tained with regard to its precise position. In its fossil flora, so well described by Sir 

 William Dawson, its aspect is undoubtedly Devonian, but to the other rocks of that sys- 

 tem as seen only a few miles to the eastward along the New Brunswick coast, it bi-ars no 

 resemblance whatever, while, both in the nature of the beds and in their relations to the 

 subjacent formations, it does bear much resemblance to the rocks of the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous system which spread so widely over other portions of the Province. For this reason 

 it was, in the Survey Reports and Maps, represented as a part of the last-named system. On 

 the other hand, however, it differs from the latter in the total absence of the marine lime- 

 stones and gypsiferous beds usually found in connection therewith, and in this respect 

 approaches more nearly a group of coarse sediments skirting the shores of the Bay des 

 Chaleurs, and which have been there shown to be uuconfonnably overlapped by the 

 Lower Carboniferous or Bonaventure rocks. It is probable that in both instances these 

 coarse red beds, though true Devonian, are to be regarded as representing the most recent 

 portion of that system, and like the Catskill G-roup of New York, which they nearly 

 resemble, constitute a transitional series between the two. 



The great bulk of the Perry beds, their coarse character and their contained plant- 

 remains are a further indication of the extensive erosion to which the region has been 

 subjected ; while their intersection (at Joe's Point, near St. Andrew's and elsewhere), by 

 dykes of trap, extending across Passamaquoddy Bay, shows that, as in earlier periods, the 

 region continued to be one subject to igneous overflows at least as late as the close of the 

 Devonian age. 



In passing northward along the western side of Passamaquoddy Bay, towards St. 

 Croix River, the Perry rocks are found to rest upon a broad platform of granitic and 

 syenitic rocks, extending, with few exceiitions, almost to the town of Calais. On the 

 eastern shore of St. Croix River they are more «ompletely covered by Silurian rocks, 

 but still rise into prominent hills, forming a portion of an extensive tract of such rocks 

 extending eastward through Charlotte County, New Brunswirk. These rocks, as seen in 

 Maine, are regarded by Prof Shaler as probably Laurentian. A similar view was also 

 entertained and published as regards those of the Province (Report of Progress, Geol. Sur- 



