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In mineralogy there is no work to report, and it has been deempd advisable 

 to withhold some notes that were made of stratigraphical observations rmtil a 

 more connected and comprehensive report could be prepared, to include tuture 

 observations. It is very desirable that this branch should make a united eflort to 

 accomplish a thorough survey of the stratigraphy of the surrounding townships^ 

 and this year's leaders recommend to the attention of their successors for the 

 ensuing field season the desirability of systematically beginning such a work. 



It is thought that a few new species of fossils have been found, but it has 

 been necessary to prepare this report so earl_v in the year, before the field work 

 can be said to have actually end^-d, that the collectors have not been able to put 

 their specimens in oider, determine doubtful varieties, and prepare lists or descrip- 

 tions of them. 



It has also been found, in compiling the notes submitted, that the substance 

 of many of them was already contained in the "Geology of Canada, 1863," so 

 that it is unnecessary to issue them in this report. In fact all the observations 

 ot the branch bear testimony to the wonderful accuracy and extended scope of 

 that valuable work. 



The most systematic and important effort of the year consisted of an explo- 

 ration of the celebrated Biid's Eye and Black River outlier at Paquette's Rapids, 

 at the foot of AUumette Island, where Messrs. Billings, Ami and Soutter, of this 

 Club, spent a week collecting fossils, in company with Mr. Hurlburt, the accom- 

 plished paleontologist of Utica, N. Y., and Mr. Weston, of the Exploring Staff 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada. The greater number of these specimens 

 were found to be of species identical with those of the Little Chaudiere beds,, 

 referred to hereafter. 



In the absence, then, of comprehensive notes from which a full report of the 

 years work could be compiled, it may be interesting to the membeis in general, 

 as well as a help to the younger ones desiring to begin the study of palaiou- 

 tology, to give a list of the difl'erent localities in this neighbourhood in which the 

 several formations may be found, at the same time indicating the best fossili- 

 ferous beds. 



Taking the rocks in ascending order, the Potsdam sandstone, the lowest 

 member of the Lower Silurian age, and the one immediately succeeding the rocks 

 of the Archaean era, is found at the Nepean quarries on the Richmond Road 

 above Britannia ; at Lake Windeago, East Templeton ; and at Buckingham 

 Basin, on the property of Mr. Bangs. An exposure is also reported as occurring 

 at Hog's Back. 



No fossils have been reported from the Potsdam in Ottawa, nor from the 

 formation next in order of age, the Calciferous, which occurs at Hog's Back and 

 the Black Rapids on the Rideau River, nine miles from the City, where the Club 

 held one of its excursions last summer. Casts of Calciferous fossils have been 

 reported as seen in a quarry on Mr. Robert Skead's Farm, South Shore of the 

 Ottawa, opposite Duck Island. 



Mr. .1. H. Bell reports a very interesting exposure in Marlborough, about 30 

 miles south of the City, probably referable to the Calciferous sand-rock ; rich in 

 fossils, and with crystals of quartz, making brilliant patches on the surface as 

 they glisten in the sunlight. It is proposed to give to the Club a detailed 

 description of this exposure in a separate paper. 



The formation which comes next, the Chazy, has in this localitj' so far 

 proved poor in fossils. The beds at Aylmer and .south-east of the mouth of 

 Green's Creek are the best in the immediate neighbourhood, no very interesting 

 fossiliferous bed« being known nearer than L'Orignal or Grenville. 



The Bird's Eye and Black River formation, constituting the base of the 

 Trenton group, is, on the contrary, specially rich. Tne Little Chaudiere, on the 

 Hull side, is, when the water is low, the best place in this vicinity. Fossils are 

 also found in a similar bed on the Ontario shore opposite, on Lots 3 and 4 ia 



