362 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



which I attribute to a fish of the genus Rhizodus, resembling, if not 

 identical with, R. lancifer, Newberry. With these are double-pointed 

 shark-like teeth, and long cylindrical spines of a species of Diplodus 

 (D. acinaces).* There are also shells of the minute Spirorbis, so 

 common in the Coal measures of other parts of Nova Scotia, and 

 abundance of fragments of coprolitic matter. 



It is evident that the " Holing stone " indicates one of those periods 



in which the Albion Coal area, or a large part of it, was under water, 



probably fresh or brackish, as there are no properly marine shells in 



this or any of the other beds of this Coal series. We may then 



imagine a large lake or lagune, loaded with trunks of trees and 



decaying vegetable matter, having in its shallow parts, and along its 



_ sides, dense brakes of Ccdamites, and forests of Sigillaria, Lepido- 



 dendron, and other trees of the period, extending far on every side 



as damp pestilential swamps. In such a habitat, uninviting to us, 



but no doubt suited to Baphetcs, that creature crawled through swamps 



^ and thickets, wallowed in flats of black mud, or swam and dived in 



search of its finny prey. 



Dendrerpeton Acadianum, Owen. 



The geology of Nova Scotia is largely indebted to Sir Charles 

 Lyell. Though much had previously been done by others, his personal 

 explorations in 1842, and his paper on the gypsiferous formation, 

 published in the following year, first gave form and shape to some of 

 the more difficult features of the geology of the country, and brought 

 it into relation with that of other parts of the world. In geological 

 investigation, as in many other things, patient plodding may accu- 

 mulate large stores of fact, but the magic wand of genius is required 

 to bring out the true value and significance of these stores of know- 

 ledge. It is scarcely too much to say that the explorations of a few 

 weeks, and subsequent study of the subject by Sir Charles, with the 

 impulse and guidance given to the labours of others, did as much for 

 Nova Scotia as might have been effected by years of laborious work 

 under less competent beads. 



Sir Charles naturally continued to take an interest in the geology 

 of Nova Scotia, and to entertain a desire to explore more fully some 

 of those magnificent coast sections which he had but hastily examined ; 

 and when, in 1851, he had occasion to revisit the United States, he 

 f* made an appointment with the writer of these pages to spend a few 

 days in renewed explorations of the cliffs of the South Joggins. The 

 object specially in view was the thorough examination of the beds of 



* See pp. 202, 203, ante. 



