118 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



In the area east of the St. Lawrence the Archœan or Pre-Cambrian 

 rocks have a somewhat extended development. They are found for the 

 most part in a broad belt which extends northeast from the Vermont 

 boundary, in which state they form the ridge known as the Green 

 mountains. In Canada the extension of this range is known as the 

 Sutton mountain, and it is one of the most prominent features in eastern 

 Quebec. With some interruptions it continues northeastwards for nearly 

 one hundred and fifty miles. The range again appears in the peninsula 

 of Gaspé, east of Metapedia lake, and forms a large part of the mountain 

 range known as the Shick- Shocks, which lies south of the lower St. Law- 

 rence at about ten to twelve miles distant. On the north side these 

 ridges in Gaspé are overlain by Cambrian sediments, while to the south 

 the adjacent strata are Silurian and Devonian. 



In New Brunswick the Pre-Cambrian areas are well seen in two 

 principal belts, one of which traverses the northern portion of the pro- 

 vince about the heads of the Tobique, the Nepisiquit and the Miramichi 

 rivers. These rocks are overlain on the north by Silurian sediments, but 

 on the south b}^ a series of black slates and hard sandstones, which, pre- 

 sumabl}', represent some portion of the Cambrian series of strata. The 

 other great area of the older crystallines in this province extends along 

 the southern portion from the southwest angle, and is well displayed in 

 several well defined ridges to the north of the Bay of Fundy, in the 

 counties of St. John, Kings and Albert. Portions of this area have been 

 classified as Laurentian, in which division are placed certain gneisses and 

 crystalline limestones with quartzites, while other areas of schists and 

 felspathic rocks have been regarded as of Huronian age. These rocks 

 are unmistakable Pre-Cambrian, since sediments containing Cambrian 

 fossils overlie the rocks of the two divisions. 



In Nova Scotia the Archa3an rocks are developed in the northeastern 

 portion of the province, more especially in the island of Cape Breton. 

 Here certain areas present many of the features found in the rocks of 

 southern New Brunswick, and resemble, in part, the Laurentian, and, in 

 part, the Huronian. At a number of places these are also overlain by 

 sediments of Cambrian age, which are fossiliferous. 



The presence of ty])ical Archa?an rocks in western and northern 

 Nova Scotia has not been definitely ascertained. Certain areas ol' schists, 

 in association with the gold-bearing rocks of Yarmouth in the south- 

 western portion of the province, have been regarded by some observers a& 

 of Huronian age ; but the most recent observations in this locality tend 

 to show that these schists are altered slates and other rocks of Cambrian 

 age, which have been acted on by igneous rocks of the vicinity. 



In the Cobequid mountain range, also, there is a large development of 

 granitic, felsitic and dioritic rocks. These, in general appearance, very 

 closely resemble portions of the Pre-Cambrian of southern New Bruns- 



