THE GBOLOGK AX M IP. 1.1 



to the Lower Carboniferous or Gypsiferoua series, and they do doubt 

 form ;i portion of ;i rim of these rocks, limiting the Carboniferous 

 area of the Acadian Bay, and extending from Northern Cape Breton 



toward the IJaie des Chaleurs. 



Tlic south-western corner of Newfoundland, extending into the 

 map, includes part of the Coal-field of St George's Bay, and of a 

 Laurentian area which hounds it on tlic cast. These formations bave 

 recently been described l>y Murray in his Reports on the I y of 



Newfoundland, and have been represented on his beautiful map of 

 the island. Specimens in my possession show thai the Carboniferous 

 limestone of Newfoundland includes abundance of the characteristic 

 fossils of that formation, and that its fossil plants are principally such 

 as in Nova Scotia occur in the Millstone-grit.* 



3. THE MODERN PERIOD. 



Changes of Level. — In tbe surveys for tbc l>aie Vcrte Canal, made 

 by Mr Page under authority of the Dominion Government, I find it 

 stated in the Report of Mr Paillarge, that between the Missaquash 

 River and Cumberland Creek, to the north of the point where I 

 observed the submarine forest of Fort Lawrence. y stumps of ti 

 were seen rooted in earth for more than half a mile along the 

 shore, and extending from low-water mark to the bank. They arc 

 stated to be from 32-8 feet to 22-3 feet below the level of the highest 

 tides. The surveyors recognised spruce, beech, pine, and tamarac, 

 all in a fair state of preservation, ami rooted in a vegetable mould 

 underlaid by a sandy subsoil. In my Report on Prince Edward 

 Island I have noticed evidence of similar modern subsidence, though 

 to a less amount. These facts place themselves in connection with 

 the probability that in America, as in Europe, a period of continental 

 elevation succeeded the great Post-pliocene subsidence, and has been 

 followed by a depression in more modern times. This consideration 

 seems to account for some otherwise anomalous facts in connexion 

 with the distribution of modern marine animals. I referred to tl 

 points in my annual address to the Natural History Society of 

 Montreal in 1874, and may here repeat the substance of what \. 

 then said. 



The Acadian Bay in relation to Modern Subsidence.- [fwe draw 

 a straight line from the northern end of Cape Breton through the 

 Magdalen Islands to the mouth of the Bay des Chaleurs, we have 



* Report on Fossil Plants of L. Carboniferous and Millstone grit, 1873. 

 t Ac. Geol., p. 29. 



