FAUNA OF THE DEVONIAN PLANT-BEDS OF ST JOHN. 529 



" At all the above named localities, the rocks are certainly members 

 of the upper division of the Little River group. In those which follow, 

 the beds are probably portions of the same series, but, as expressed in 

 the remarks on the characters of this group, their position has not been 

 ascertained with absolute certainty. 



" (i.) Blackwood Block, Albert Comity. I am informed by Mr 

 Matthew, that in this district, and near the lake which foiTns the 

 source of one of the branches of the Salmon River, copper has recently 

 been found by Mr G. F. Kcans of St John. 



" The latter gentleman observed some veins, and numerous boulders 

 of quartz on the hillsides about the lake, as well as felspar, mica (silvery 

 gray and black), hornblende, actinolite, and chlorite. The copper 

 was observed in a ledge of hard gray metamorphic slate, on the north 

 side of the lake, filling seams in the rock, and is a green carbonate, 

 not the original ore. The accompanying rocks are described as paler 

 and coarser slates, some of the latter having an ash-like aspect (vol- 

 canic ?), and reddish felsite. All of these rocks are similar to those 

 occurring in the Cordaite shales, or cupriferous band of the coast. 

 Both of the above named gentlemen, to whom I am indebted for the 

 facts of its occurrence, regard the locality as a promising one, and 

 deserving of further examination. 



" This locality is not very distant from the point at which particles 

 of drift gold were observed by myself and others in the summer of 

 1863. The occurrence of the latter is curious, and difficult of ex- 

 planation. It can scarcely be supposed that this metal should have 

 come from beds of Devonian age, such as those of the neighbourhood 

 appear to be. Neither are there any rocks of a greater age in this 

 portion of the province, unless we suppose the re-appearance of the St 

 John slates, or some portion of the Coldbrook and Portland groups. 

 As to the former, as far as observed to the eastward, no approaching 

 alteration, such as is usually found in gold-bearing scries, was ob- 

 served, and eastward of King's County the group Itself appears to be 

 entirely wanting. The same Is true of the Portland group, biit It Is 

 not at all unlikely that beds of the Coldbrook may be represented in 

 this district, and to them we must provisionally look for the origin of 

 this metal. It should, however, be borne in mind, that Dr Hayes of 

 Boston has, by analysis, ascertained the presence of gold In the rocks 

 of the Vernon Mine, also a part of the scries of which the locality at 

 Blackwood is supposed to form a member. 



" {k.) Beech Hill, Westmoreland. On the south-eastern side of the 

 Rfemrameook River, in the parish of Dorchester, and about three miles 

 from Cliarters' Inn, occurs a very singular metalliferous locality, but 



2 M 



