128 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Siluro-Devonian. According to views advocated in this paper, 

 the Plant-bearing beds at St. John are Silurian. If this view is cor- 

 rect it will follow that at some period subsequent to their deposition 

 they were made subject to uplift and extensive alteration, their present 

 position being somewhat highly inclined, with strongly developed 

 slaty cleavage and the organic remains converted either into anthracite 

 or graphite. As the latter part of the Devonian age is known to have 

 been a period of great disturbance both in New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia, producing great uplifts and intense metamorphism on all rocks 

 affected, it is difficult to suppose that it was not at the same period 

 that the rocks of the Little River group acquired the characters which 

 they now exhibit. 



Devonian. The Devonian age was in the Maritime Provinces of 

 Canada a time of special disturbance, as above remarked. Dia- 

 strophic and orogenic movements took place in New Brunswick as in 

 Nova Scotia on a scale of great magnitude, and were accompanied by 

 or resulted in, changes of the highest importance in the physiography, 

 climate, and life of the regions affected. All groups of rocks up to, 

 but not including the Perry group, were uptilted or thrown into folds, 

 profound dislocations occurred, slaty cleavage was imiversally devel- 

 oped, and sandstones were hardened into quartzites, volatile hydro- 

 carbons were removed and extensive batholiths of granite penetrated 

 and altered the sedimentary rocks. 



On the other hand the Perry and later rocks show no evidence 

 of such excessive alteration. If tilted, it is at comparatively low 

 angles, and with the exception of the Albert shales, they are never 

 closely folded, and show little or no metamorphism. Even in their 

 lowest portion, such as the Albert series, with its bituminous shales, 

 oil, and gas springs, they are surcharged with bituminous matter; 

 their conglomerates, especially those of the Perry group, are mainly 

 made up of pebbles from the Silurian and older rocks, and include 

 large boulders of granite, a rock comparatively rare in the conglomer- 

 ates of greater age. Hill ranges, such as the Nerepis Hills, the York 

 granites and, in Nova Scotia, the Cobequids, were brought into being, 

 intervening valleys were deepened, entire changes took place in the 

 geographical condition of the region, and, with these, changes in the 

 climate and life of the time. 



Lower Carboniferous. The rocks of this series are unconformable 

 alike to the underlying and overlying groups, but the unconformity in 

 relation to the carboniferous is shown rather by the evidence of 

 extensive erosion than by any marked discordance of the dip. The 

 period was also one of pronounced volcanic activity, manifested 

 mainly towards the end of the period, but not extended into that of 



