Tin: CAMBRIAN. 83 



I. spiralis of Torcll, but distinct specifically, and with forms 

 allied to Eophyton. In any case they may be regarded as forms 

 of Cambrian and Lower Silurian type. In the meantime, that we 

 may have some name wherewith to designate them, I would propose 

 to call them Astropolithon* and the Waverley species, in honour of 

 its discoverer, ^4. Hindii. 



The only other fossils known to me are specimens resembling 

 the tubes or perforations known as Scolithus, and very characteristic 

 of the Potsdam sandstone in Canada. These I found near the 

 mouth of St Mary's River in loose blocks, which must have been 

 derived from a neighbouring ledge of quartzite. In so far as the 

 above fossils give any indication of age, they serve to confirm the 

 supposition that the Gold series of the Atlantic coast is to be referred 

 to the Cambrian period. Within that period its fossils have strong 

 points of alliance with those of the beds known as Fucoidal sand- 

 stone and Eophyton sandstone in Sweden, and which underlie the 

 equivalents of our Acadian series. They may, therefore, be regarded 

 as probable equivalents of the Lower Cambrian or Longmynd series 

 of Europe. 



Professor Hind has given a good description of the characters and 

 structure of the more important parts of the Gold series in his 

 Reports to the Department of Mines in Nova Scotia.-}- He states 

 the entire thickness of the series at 12,000 feet. Of this the Lower 

 or Quartzite and Slate division, which includes in its middle and 

 upper part the productive gold veins, comprises about 9000 feet, 

 and the Upper or Ferruginous Slate division 3000 feet. The whole 

 is thrown into a scries of somewhat sharp anticlinals, which, as might 

 be expected, are much faulted. The steepest sides of the anticlinals 

 arc usually to the north, though in some cases, as at Sherbrookc, to 

 the south. The courses of these anticlinals are approximately east 

 and west. The gold has been found to be most accessible in the 

 sides and near the summits of the anticlinals, while in the synclinals 

 the upper unproductive slates usually appear. It is also to be 

 observed that the productive gold veins are best developed in the 

 vicinity of the great masses of eruptive granite which traverse this 

 formation, and in connection with which it has locally been 

 much metamorphosed. 



The gold veins, as stated in Acadian Geology, run for the most 

 part parallel to the bedding, but cross courses and branches traversing 



* Star-like stone. 



f Report on Waverley District, 1869; Sherbrooke, 1870; Mount Uniacke, Oldham 

 and Renfrew, 1872. 



P 



