62 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



for the observations ; and barographs are used where required. The 

 greater nuinber of these stations are on open coasts where no wharfs or 

 other facilities exist ; three of them are inaccessible during the winter 

 months ; but with nearly all there is telegraphic communication. Their 

 positions are as follows : (See Map, Plate I.) 



St. John, N.B., as a reference station for the Bay of Fundy. 



Halifax, N.S., to obtain the Atlantic tide. 



Strait of Belle Isle, at Forteau Bay, in the narrowest part of the 

 strait, near its inner end. 



St. Paul Island, in Cabot Strait ; to command the main entrance by 

 which the tides enter the Grulf of St. Lawrence. 



Southwest Point of Anticosti, at the entrance to the St. Lawrence. 



Father Point, the Pilot station on the St. Lawrence, 195 miles below 

 Quebec. 



Quebec ; the gauge being situated at the dry dock on the Levis 

 side. 



The only station of the seven wliich is open to any technical objection 

 is Quebec ; because the true head of the estuary of the St. Lawrence is at 

 the lower end of the Island of Orleans, where the tide has its maximum 

 range ; whereas Quebec is so far up, as to show some of the featvires of a 

 river tide. 



This number of principal stations is required on account of the great 

 variation in the range of the tide, and the irregularities it presents. The 

 range varies from 4 or 5 feet at the more open stations, to 26 and 32 feet 

 at Quebec and St. John. To avoid a further increase in the number of 

 principal stations, it is therefore important to obtain tidal results for 

 intermediate ports by means of constant differences in the time of high 

 and low water, and ratios in the range. Tidal data for this purpose can 

 be obtained by short series of observations, taken during the summer 

 months only, and compared with the record obtained simultaneously at 

 the principal stations. For two of these stations, Halifax and Quebec, 

 tide tables have already been prepared and issued for the last two years ; 

 and tide tables for St. John also, are in preparation for 1898. 



The last four stations as above given, form a series extending from 

 the main Grulf entrance to Quebec. In Cabot sti*ait, and at Anticosti 

 and Father Point, the stations are close to the deep water of the channel 

 already referi-ed to ; as they are within seven miles of the 100-fathom 

 line. The character of the tide in its progress from Cabot strait to Quebec 

 is shown in Plate II. When once it enters the mouth of the St. Law- 

 rence at Anticosti, it proceeds to Quebec with a regularity which is in 

 marked contrast with its character while in the open Gulf. This will be 

 seen from a comparison of the following figures, which give the period of 

 time occupied by the tidal undulation in its progress from one station to 

 another ; and the range or variation in this period. All the differences 



