6 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



But while the general position of the Bay of Fundy trough was 

 thus fixed, we must not infer that this had either its present limits 

 or its present character. For, if we look to the position of its southern 

 side we find distinct evidence that its border in that direction was not 

 where it now is. The present southern snore is bordered throughout 

 by the trappean ridge of the North Mountains overlying red sandstones 

 of Triassic age, and even if we go further back in the Nova Scotian 

 peninsula we fail to find any rocks so ancient as are some of those of 

 southern New Brunswick, unless it be those of the southern coast, 

 the so-called Meguma series and Halifax formations, and these are 

 undoubtedly of marine origin. The only other rocks to be found 

 in the Nova Scotian peninsula west of Halifax are the Silurian ( ?) 

 and Eo-Devonian rocks bordering the southern side of the Annapolis 

 Valley, and the great granite batholiths which border and invade 

 the latter. 



We thus fail to find any evidences of land areas to mark the 

 southern side of the Bay in early Palaeozoic time. Possibly such 

 areas existed to the eastward of the present limits of Nova Scotia 

 over a region now submerged. 



So much for the Bay of Fundy region and its borders. What 

 about Northern New Brunswick ? It was at one time supposed that 

 large areas constituting the Northern Highlands were Pre-Cambrian 

 and are so represented in the official Geological Survey map, but 

 while we cannot deny that rocks of such high antiquity may actually 

 occur there, in a region as yet very imperfectly explored, no definite 

 proof of this exists at present while it has been certainly shown that a 

 considerable part of the areas referred to consists of volcanic effusives 

 which are at least as recent as Silurian. The oldest strata met with 

 so far as the fossils show, are of Cambro-Silurian age. 



Cambrian-Silurian or Ordovician 



In the Geological Survey Map, published, as regards northern 

 New Brunswick, in 1875-82, large areas in the northern central parts 

 of the Province are represented as of Cambro-Silurian age, the rocks 

 there met with consisting mainly of slates and quartzites, lying either 

 side of and at many points penetrated by the great granitic batho- 

 liths which more or less interruptedly cross the Province from the 

 western frontier at Macadam to the lower part of the Nepisiquit 

 River near Bathurst. Prior to the publication referred to, the same 

 group of rocks had by various authors (Gesner, Hind, Logan, Robb 

 and others) been regarded as the probable equivalents of the so-called 

 Quebec group, and to this view some support was given from the fact 



