138 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



groups in New Brunswick, to the Lower Carboniferous, by his contem- 

 porary, Dr. James Eobb, has been followed since. While Sir Charles 

 Lyeli determined tlie age of the limestones in Nova Scotia to be Lower 

 Carboniferous. 



Since these autliors \\Tote, much information in relation to these 

 rocks has been accumulated, and in both New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia red conglomerates and sandstones are found to underlie uncon- 

 formably the Carboniferous limestone, hence they are made a separate 

 cycle. No marine remains have been found in them, but the plants they 

 contain are Upper Devonian, with a liberal admixture in places of formas 

 that pass to the Carboniferous. The investigations of Mr. Hugh Fletcher 

 and Dr. E. W. Ells, field surveyors of the Canadian Geological Survey 

 in Nova Scotia, show the limestone and the Upper Devonian series of 

 rocks are unconformable. 



Taking the latter as a small, closed cycle, we find it began as did 

 the Cambrian and the Silurian, with deposits of weathered terrestrial 

 debris that had been thoroughly oxidized; and in some districts with 

 volcanic effusives, producing extensive deposits of red conglomerates and 

 marls or muds. These form the first member of the cycle and are found 

 widespread in southern New Brunswick and northern Nova Scotia. 



Upon this lower member of red rocks rests another marked by a 

 prevalence of gray sandstones and shales, often with numerous plant 

 remains, fishes, and crustaceans. 



In New Brunswick and northeastern Nova Scotia this member is 

 distinguished by its gray colour, and consists of sandstones and shales 

 in frequent alternations. Many of these beds abound in remains of land 

 plants, and others are highly bituminous. This terrane is the " Lower 

 Coal Measures " of Sir Wm. J. Dawson, for it resembles the coal measures 

 in appearance and in the numerous plant remains which it contains. 

 The Albert shales of New Brunswick belong here; also the Horton 

 beds and Riversdale terrane in Nova Scotia. 



The next terrane of this cycle, although still plant-bearing, resumes 

 the bright red colour in the sediment which marks lowest terrane or 

 Perry conglomerate member. 



This cycle cannot be considered one of the ordinary type wherein 

 depression of the earth's crust has gradually resulted in the invasion 

 of the land by the sea, for no strictly marine forms «re known in it. 

 The depression which occurred when its middle members were deposited, 

 appears to have resulted in the formation of lakes and marshes. The 

 large amount of bituminous matter in the Albert shales, with the abun- 

 dant fish remains which are found in the Petitcodiac and Kennebecasis 

 valleys in New Brunswick point to lacustrine rather than marine con- 



