120 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



of the genus Olenellus, regarded as marking the basal member of the 

 Cambrian, but which up to the present time has not been found in Nova 

 Scotia or New Brunswick though it occurs in the basal beds of the 

 Etcheminian of Newfoundland and in their supposed equivalent the 

 Georgia series of Vermont. 



In the lowest portion of the Cambrian section as developed along 

 Handford brook, the species Colonoides which is found associated 

 with Olenellus elsewhere, was obtained from the Etcheminian of that 

 section. In the vicinity of St. John the recognized Etcheminian in 

 rear of Seely street, as measured by Walcott, has a thickness of only 

 150 feet, as contrasted with 1040 feet developed on Handford brook. 

 In the former area however, a belt of greenish eruptive felsitic and 

 sometimes slaty rocks underlies the sediments of the fossiliferous 

 Etcheminian and extends from the vicinity of Main street in the city, 

 past Lily lake and eastward for some miles. This is terminated down- 

 ward by beds of dark slates, altered sandstone and bands of crystal- 

 line limestones, sometimes graphitic, and is evidently a portion çî the 

 formation which contains remains of sponges already described. This 

 part of the series presumably is included in the Cambrian term Cold- 

 brookian. 



Their extreme metamorphism is evidently due to the presence of 

 large masses of generally reddish granite, and it is quite possible that 

 they may represent in this direction the missing basal beds of the 

 Etcheminian as developed elsewhere. It is also possible that a careful 

 search might reveal the existence of the missing Olenellus zone with 

 its associated fossils. So far in the study of this part of the field, but 

 little attention has been directed to this aspect of the case, either 

 at this locality or elsewhere, possibly on the assumption that their 

 supposed upper Laurentian age was against the probability of finding 

 any such organisms; but the abundance of sponge spicules in these 

 lower rocks, as already indicated, now makes it very desirable that a 

 close search be made in order that this missing lowest fossiliferous 

 zone of the Cambrian system in this portion of the province may be 

 discovered ; unless indeed the high state of metamorphism to which 

 these rocks have been subjected may have entirely destroyed all 

 trace of any such organisms. 



