94 G. F. MATTHEW ON THE OEGANIC EEMAINS OF THE 



Note on the Mispec Group. 



It has l)eeu stated in my article, " Observations on the Geology of St. John County," 

 quoted above that the Mispeck Group or terrain rested unconformably on the Little River 

 Group, and was itself unconformably surmounted by Lower Carboniferous conglomerates 

 and sandstones. In later years when the district to the west of the Little River — Mispec 

 Basin — came to be explored by the ofRcers of the Geological Survey of Canada, it was found 

 that considerable masses of red conglomerates and slates appeared along the north shore of 

 the Bay of Fundy at intervals as far west as Eastport in the state of Maine. They fill two 

 narrow, trough-like basins, beside the one first described. In the typical basin (Mispec) they 

 are distinguishable from the underlying Little River group by the conglomerate at the base, 

 a slight change in the dip of the beds and by their colour. In the middle basin (Lepreau) 

 similar strata appear, and in the third basin (West Isles) a series of red rocks which appears 

 to be of similar age, rest in places directly upon the Laurentian gneiss, and its conglomerate 

 layers are filled with blocks of gneiss from this source. 



These and other facts imply great disturbance and denudation in this area after the time 

 marked by the deposition of the Saint John group (Cambrian-Ordovician) and before that 

 indicated by the Lower Carboniferous conglomerates. During this long interval of geo- 

 logical time, a period of comparative repose is marked by the deposition of the rocks of 

 the Little River Grou^j. 



Note on the Lower Carboniferous. 



The surveyors of the Canadian Geological Survey also found that the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous conglomerates and sandstones were continued by detached outliers to a connection 

 with the Devonian plant beds of Perry in Maine, and were of the same terrain. From this 

 it became apparent that the plant-bearing beds of Perry were in close chrouological relation 

 with beds which, to the east and north, held such brachiopods as Terebratula sufflata, Pro- 

 dudus Cora and P. semiretieulatus, but it has not been determined whether the Perry plant- 

 remains are beneath, above, or strictly cotemporaneous with those which hold the marine 

 organisms. 



One further consideration of importance in this connection was established by oflicers of 

 the Geological Survey (Doctors L. "W. Bailey and R. W. Ells) namely that the Lower Car- 

 boniferous Flora, which belongs to the group of the All)ert shales, etc., was contained in 

 beds which were older than the main bod}' of Red Conglomerates and Sandstones of the 

 Lower Carboniferous.' But the structure of this terrain has not been sufficientlj' studied in 

 southern New Brunswick to make it clear that this flora does not also extend to the beds 

 above the conglomerates and shales, which overlie the pyroschists of Albert county. 



The data detailed in these notes, it appears to the writer, warrant the revival of the use 

 of the local name Little River Group in describing new organisms from the beds of this 

 terrain ; not however meaning to convey the impression that their Devonian age is disproven 

 but rather that as the reference to Middle Devonian rests on the plant remains alone, it may 

 be wise to wait for further light before so referring these new organisms definitely. The 

 evidence from other sources, however, points to their greater, rather than their lesser antiquity. 



' Report of Progress, Gaol. Surv. Can., 1878-9, p. 16d. 



