12 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



which must, with equal certainty, be referred to the Carboniferous 

 system. The beds to which this conclusion applies embrace, in 

 addition to volcanic rocks and bright red sandstones, often saliferous, 

 limestones holding characteristic marine fossils (brachiopods, ortho- 

 cerata and occasional corals), with which at some points, as about 

 Hillsboro, N.B., and Windsor, N.S., are associated extensive deposits 

 of anhydrite and gypsum. 



These rocks are undoubtedly marine and their disposition in the 

 maritime provinces is such as to make the drawing of conclusions as 

 to the geography of the time comparatively easy. The Bay of Fundy 

 trough must have been in existence, but as a strait rather than a bay, 

 and opening freely at its head into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its 

 southern shore also was formed not as now by the North mountains 

 (volcanic traps of Jurassic age), but lay south of Annapolis basin, 

 with considerable indentations about. Windsor. In the interior of 

 New Brunswick a long shallow valley traversed by marine currents 

 lay between the Southern hills and the similar Pre-Carboniferous 

 hills of King's county, while still further north a large part of central 

 New Brunswick, later to be occupied by the swamps of the Coal 

 measures, was beneath the sea level. Still further north, rocks of 

 this age occupy limited areas in Victoria county and around the 

 shores of the Bay Chaleur. 



The period was evidently one of wide submergence, though 

 only to shallow depths, and where conditions were favourable, con- 

 siderable areas, shut off by barriers from the general oceanic circula- 

 tion, became evaporating basins, in which were laid down the deposits 

 of gypsum. It is also evident that the sinking of the land, resulting 

 in such submergence, was to a considerable extent, as the marine 

 deposits are now found at considerable elevations, and that it increased 

 progressively eastward, as while near St. John they are not far above 

 sea level west of that point they are wanting altogether. In the 

 opposite direction they rise higher and highei on the underlying hills 

 until at Shepody Mountain, overlooking the head of the Bay of Fundy, 

 they cap the latter. 



In Nova Scotia the Lower Carboniferous system is mainly repre- 

 sented by the Horton series, exposed along the shores of the Avon 

 estuary, and the Windsor series, closely adjoining the former. The 

 (ormer consists of black argillaceous and calcareous shales, marked 

 by evidences of littoral marine origin but holding the remains of 

 numerous plants (especially Lepidodendron corrugatum and Anei- 

 mites Acadica) and the latter by reddish and greenish marls, with 

 zones of gypsum and limestone, the latter abundantly fossiliferous. 



