218 Geological Society. 



principally of an arm of the primitive ranges which extend from 

 Labrador and Hudson's Bay to the sources of the Mississippi : and 

 from this, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, a band is sent out across the 

 Valley of the St. Lawrence to join the primitive formations of the 

 United States. Numerous boulders of a limestone resembling the 

 mountain limestone of England, are found on the north shore of Lake 

 Erie ; and this with other rocks in horizontal strata appears in situ at 

 Lake Huron : the line of junction with the primitive rocks extend- 

 ing from Penitanguishene to Kingston, thence up the Ottawa to the 

 Falls of the Chat, and the Longsault Rapids, from whence it stretches 

 north-easterly to Cape Tourment in the north bank of the St. Law- 

 rence 30 miles below Quebec. 



The strata which overlie the transition rocks, in the St. Lawrence 

 Valley, are, in a descending order, the following : — 



1. Dark shale resting upon limestone, and containing terebratulae, 

 favpsites, turbinolia, milleporites, trilobites, &c. ; this extends for 

 many miles, along the south of Lake Ontario and the south-eastern 

 shore of Lake Erie. 



'2,. Cherty limestone, beneath which is blue limestone with copper 

 pyrites, and foliated strontian ; — this last containing producti, and 

 corallines, in addition to the fossils above enumerated. The brown 

 limestone of Niagara contains cellular madrepores, pentamerae, tro- 

 chi, trilobites, &c. ; and the junction of this limestone with the shale 

 is well seen beneath the table rock of the Niagara Falls. The shale 

 on the south of Lake Ontario is from 120 to 250 feet in thickness. 

 Its place is superior to that of the rauriatiferous sandstone : and in 

 this respect the author conceives the order of stratification here to 

 be distinguished from that which obtains in Europe ; since the same 

 fossil remains have not yet been found in Europe above the salife- 

 rous sandstone. 



3. Arenaceous rocks, in the lower beds of which are brine springs. 

 The stratum which forms the floor of the salt springs on the south 

 borders of Ontario, varies from a red or greenish sandstone to a 

 greenish or red clayey slate ; and is occasionally 80 feet in thick- 

 ness. 



4-. Another group consists of a quartzose aggregate, from 40 to 

 60 feet thick, resting on grauwacke, either fine-grained or slaty ; 

 the finer varieties containing the asaphus latocaudatus, bellerophon, 

 and a bivalve resembling a sanguinolaria. No coal has been found 

 in this vicinity. 



5. Another portion of the stratified rocks is ranked by the author 

 with the intermediary limestone of Daubuisson ; the higher beds 

 containing organic remains resembling those of the transition lime- 

 stone of Germany and Wales ; while none of the organic remains 

 of the superior deposits are found in it. It occurs in many parts of 

 Lower Canada, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe, 

 Lake Huron, and Lake Superior. 



Near the outlet of Lake Ontario, cliffs upwards of 100 feet in height 

 are formed of sandstone, grauwacke, and conglomerate ; and for 

 many miles down the St. Lawrence these rocks underlie the inter- 

 mediary limestone. At the Falls of Montmorency near Quebec, the 



conglomerate 



